Connecticut senior midfielder Kelsey Catalano completed a double hat-trick in the first half then added two more goals to power the Huskies’ (6-7, 2-3 Big East Conference) scoring in a 16-7 win against Temple (7-6, 2-3 Big East) at Howarth Field on Saturday afternoon.
Catalano now has 30 goals this season after her career-high eight-point performance. She scored four goals during UConn’s 9-0 run to start the game.
Temple has now lost three games in a row by a combined score of 47-14.
“I just think we came out flustered from the beginning,” coach Bonnie Rosen said. “It’s just frustrating to watch our team do that. We were throwing the ball away.”
The Owls turned the ball over 23 times. They now have four games where they’ve turned the ball over 20 or more times. Temple has a 0-4 record in those games, two of which were against Big East opponents.
Catalano opened the scoring for the Huskies just 20 seconds into the game. She added two more goals within the first 10 minutes, prompting Rosen to change goalkeepers after the Huskies took a 4-0 lead.
Sophomore Maryn Lowell started her 13th consecutive game. She was pulled in favor of redshirt sophomore Kelsea Hershey for the third straight contest.
Hershey stopped two shots in the rest of the first half. Lowell returned to the goal for the second half and made eight saves. She finished with 10 stops in 37 minutes, 21 seconds of action.
“We’re really trying to make sure we have both goalkeepers ready to go,” Rosen said. “Kelsea did a nice job, and I think Maryn had some nice saves.”
The game was foul-heavy on both sides. Four Owls were assessed yellow cards, and three Huskies were sent off. UConn had 11 free-position opportunities and converted on six of them.
Junior midfielder Amber Lambeth gave the Owls a strong effort, scoring three goals. Two of her goals came in the second half as the Owls attempted to come back from their eight-goal deficit at halftime.
“Obviously, we weren’t going to let up,” Lambeth said. “We had to start getting goals and stop them from getting goals.”
Temple will look to end its losing streak on April 14 against Butler University in Indiana. Butler (1-12, 0-5 Big East), which is in its second season as a Division I program, is on a five-game losing streak. The Bulldogs rank 110th out of 115 teams in goals per game.
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