Tara Murphy, who is in her fourth season as the Owls’ goalkeeper experienced a night on Sunday that she will want to forget. After stopping seven shots in the first half and keeping Penn off of the scoreboard, she let in two simple shots that gave Penn a 2-0 that they did not relinquish. She was pulled in the 79th minute of the 2-0 loss for freshmen goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff.
“It’s the unfortunate side of the game,” coach Matt Gwilliam said. “It’s the position that the spotlight shines on or the one that they close the door on at the end of the day. You either win or lose it at that position a lot of people say, and it was not the best day for her.”
“I wanted to get some experience for the younger players,” Gwilliam added. “We just have to tell her to keep her head, train hard and to improve.”
When posed the question if he believes that a goalie change will be in the works for the near future, Gwilliam refused to comment.
“I had to get the job done,” Kerkhoff said. “There comes down to a moment in a game where you must make tough decisions, I think he was just trying to switch it up.”
When asked if she thought she was going to be in the starting lineup next Friday against Iona, Kerkhoff said she would if she earned it.
“The first half we fought really hard and wanted it,” freshmen defender Rachel Barbella said, who was on the field for the two second half goals. “The second half we lost our energy and our communication on defense. We cannot blame this on [Murphy] because I think she did a good job and if it was not for her it would have been 5-0 at the least.”
Murphy has let in two or more goals in the team’s first five games.
Rich Fogel can be reached at rich.fogel@temple.edu.
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