Katie Briglia’s final game at Geasey Field couldn’t have gone much better. On “Katie Briglia Day” the senior midfielder led the Owls to a 4-1 victory over cross-town rival Saint Joseph’s.
Temple’s offensive attack began in the 14th minute when freshman forward Alyssa Delp scored her ninth goal off an assist from freshman midfielder Tricia Light.
The Hawks kept the game close though with an equalizer off the stick of sophomore forward Jordan Martin in the 24th minute of the first half.
“[St. Joes] was really crowding the circle, which was hard for us,” sophomore forward Amber Youtz said. “But then we started using our passing, which helped us to get around that.”
With only four minutes remaining in the first period, Youtz put away a goal off a long pass from junior defender Molly Doyle. Youtz’s goal would prove to be the difference in the game.
“I came from the backfield and got a great pass from [Doyle],” Youtz said of the goal. “I was able to take it on the move near the side of the goalie.”
But with the Owls only up one in the beginning of the second half, St. Joe’s hung in the game and didn’t allow Temple to pull away.
“St. Joe’s is a scrappy team and I always respect them because they step up to the ball and they always play hard,” Briglia said. “And this being their last game, we knew they were going to come hard.”
With the Hawks applying constant pressure on the defense, Briglia was integral in keeping Temple’s passing game afloat.
In the 44th minute junior forward Lauren Hunt was able to finally break the game open for the Owls with an unassisted goal from a rebounded shot.
As Temple was cruising to their fifth conference victory and final home win of the season, Briglia got an even better send off.
With two minutes left, Briglia scored off a penalty corner to put the Owls up 4-1 and finish off Temple’s first winning season since 2007.
“There were a lot of emotions coming in,” Briglia said. “It was definitely a lot to handle and I had a lot of fans on the sidelines that came here to see me today, so it was a lot.”
Youtz said that the whole team knew how much the win means to Briglia.
“It means so much to [Briglia] just because we came off two losses and we just really wanted confidence going into the Atlantic Ten playoffs,” Youtz said. “And for her senior year and her playing every game for the past few years, she just really needed a good game today and I was proud she got a goal too.”
With Temple finishing the season 12-8 and 5-2 in the A-10, they will head into the playoffs as the third seed.
The Owls will be facing Massachusetts on November 2 in Amherst, Massachusetts.
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