All the Owls needed to do was run out the clock.
With just 39 seconds left in overtime, they had already overcome a six-goal deficit. All they needed to do was hang on.
Temple kept the ball moving, with sophomore midfielder Nicole Tiernan receiving the last pass, running up field to keep Hofstra from getting one last shot off.
As she was running, Tiernan looked back to see the last few seconds tick off the clock, then immediately began running toward her teammates as the horn sounded.
Down 7-1 at one point, the Owls pulled off an incredible comeback in the pouring rain, forcing overtime and eventually winning 9-8.
Hofstra jumped out to a 5-0 lead 15 minutes into the first half. Then, after freshman midfielder Carly Demato scored off a free position shot to get the Owls on the board, Hofstra’s junior attacker Brittain Altomare scored back-to-back goals.
Despite being down six goals, the Owls kept fighting. The defense tightened up, redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Jaqi Kakalecik came up with a few big saves and the offense started to take control of the tempo.
Both Demato and sophomore midfielder Megan Pinkerton scored on free position shots in the last four minutes of the half.
Still down by four, Temple had to catch up. By that point however, the Owls were confident that they had this game.
“We were like, ‘We can actually do this,’” Tiernan said.
By the time the second half started, the Owls were in complete control. Demato completed the hat-trick to put the Owls within three.
Altomare answered with a goal to complete a hat-trick of her own, but was shut down the rest of the half by freshman midfielder Krissy Gallivan.
Temple then went on a run of four unanswered goals from freshman midfielder Morgan Glassford, Pinkerton, senior midfielder Lea Britton and the tying goal from Tiernan.
Even though their play had really picked up, the Owls also benefitted from a few lucky breaks.
With about 40 seconds left in regulation, Kakalecik was caught out of the crease trying to intercept a pass, allowing an easy opportunity for Hofstra, but the shot went wide of the open net.
In overtime, Temple was on the defensive for the first half of it, then Tiernan got a chance and put in the game winner.
Temple improves to 3-6 with this bounce-back win, after losing three straight.
After the game, coach Bonnie Rosen said the team showed “a tremendous amount of heart.”
“When you realize the number of people who have contributed to this win today, and a lot of the players who haven’t seen a lot of the playing field up until today, they were ready to go and really helped us change the momentum.” Rosen said.
“Every good play on the field was earned,” Rosen added. “It wasn’t given to us and I really think this was a huge foundation piece moving forward. A really good effort in all ways.”
Temple will go on the road to play UMBC on Saturday, and then will open up Big East play against Connecticut the week after.
Nick Tricome can be reached at nick.tricome@temple.edu or on Twitter @itssnick215.
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