The lacrosse team has lost six-straight games to fall to 1-7 on the season.
The lacrosse team’s recent struggles continued this past week against Lehigh.
The Mountain Hawks took care of the Owls, 18-6, on a brisk, windy day at Geasey Field. Temple has now lost six-straight games and has fallen to 1-7 under coach Bonnie Rosen. Rosen, who was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2010, was unavailable for comment after the game.
Lehigh’s offensive attack proved overwhelming for Temple’s defense, a unit that has allowed the opposition to score at least 10 goals in all seven of its losses. Lehigh had six multiple-goal scorers, including four goals by sophomore midfielder Megan Kelly, and three a piece by senior midfielder Allison Thomas, sophomore midfielder Anna Patterson and junior attacker Kelly Draper. Senior midfielder Lauren Dykstra and sophomore midfielder Julie McBrien also tallied two goals each.
The Owls found themselves in a hole early after winning just three draw controls in the first half, as opposed to the Mountain Hawks’ 10. After finding itself down, 4-0, Temple matched Lehigh goal-for-goal the rest of the first half but still trailed, 8-4, at the break.
The Mountain Hawks began the second half on another 4-0 run and put the Owls in an eight-goal deficit. Temple then scored back-to-back goals to cut the lead to 12-6, only to see Lehigh score the final six goals of the game.
Goalkeeping and defense have proved to be the primary Achilles’ heel for the Owls all season. Temple’s junior goalkeeper Tess Bishop allowed 18 of the 26 shots she faced to hit the back of the net, while Lehigh’s freshman goalkeeper Alex Fitzpatrick faced 22 shots and recorded a season-high 16 saves.
One of the lone bright spots for the Owls was the play of junior midfielder Jackie Mercer. Mercer scored three times on five shots, increasing her total goals for the year so far to seven. Mercer missed all of last season with an injury but has bounced back in 2011.
Lehigh improved to 5-4 on the season with the win against Temple. Lehigh was coming off a strong 19-2 home win against Bucknell and successfully carried its momentum into North Philadelphia.
Halfway through the 2011 campaign, Temple has just one win, which came from the Feb. 27 matchup against Mount St. Mary’s. The team has one more non-conference matchup against Lafayette before beginning Atlantic Ten Conference play against Massachusetts on April 1.
Of the remaining eight games left on the Owls’ schedule, there is an even split of four home games and four away games. The Cherry and White will face Lafayette, George Washington, Richmond and St. Bonaventure at Geasey Field, while facing Massachusetts, St. Joseph’s, Duquesne and La Salle on the road.
The Owls will try to snap their losing streak as they face Lafayette at home on Tuesday, March 29.
Tyler Sablich can be reached at tyler.sablich@temple.edu.
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