In a rematch between conference foes, Temple fell to the Duquesne Dukes 12-8 in the semifinals of the Atlantic-10 tournament on Friday in Amherst, Mass., ending the Owls’ season.
“We played a good game, not a great game,” coach Bonnie Rosen said. “We just didn’t have our complete team A-game today”.
During Friday’s matchup, No. 3 Temple (9-8, 4-3 A-10) never held a lead against No.2 Duquesne (11-6,5-2), with the largest deficit being a five-point hole.
“We wanted to win the championship,” senior goalie Meghan Clothier said. “It just stinks that we weren’t able to achieve our goal completely, but there was a lot of good this season”.
With the postseason loss, not only does the the Owls’ season comes to a close, but so does their occupancy in the A-10 conference. The Dukes continue on to face Massachusetts in the finals.
Temple’s offense was led by a pair of hat tricks scored by senior captain/midfielder Stephany Parcell and freshman attack Rachel Schwaab. Senior midfielders Kellee Pace and Charlotte Swavola also added a single goal each. Swavola also led the team with four draw controls.
Meghan Clothier ended her career with the Owls by recording a career-high 11 saves, but allowed 12 goals in the loss.
“I think we really went out there and gave it our all. Personally for me, at the end of the day, its nice to have a career-high day, but at the end of the day, we didn’t win the game,” Clothier said.
For Duquesne, junior attack Haley Marafiotti led all scorers with four goals, and added an assist. A pair of sophomore midfielders, Amanda Kidder and Clare Hurley, added a couple of goals each. Sophomore midfielder Morgan Matz led the Dukes with three assists.
Matching Clothier’s 11 saves, junior goalie Kristen Gregory allowed eight Temple goals and received the win.
The Dukes came into the game firing and put the Owls in a deficit during the early goings of the game. Turnovers plagued the Owls and after just under 20 minutes had passed in the first period, Duquesne outscored Temple 8-2.
“We dug ourselves into a hole, in the beginning, and never got ourselves out of it,” Parcell said.
The Owls ended the first period receiving consecutive goals from Parcell and Schwaab, but still trailed the Dukes 8-4.
At the start of the second period, Pace recorded a goal to close the gap to three goals. Swavola then responded to a Dukes goal, by netting her own to make the score 9-6.
Eight minutes into the second period, Duquesne opened up a 11-6 advantage, scoring two consecutive goals, until Schwaab ended the run, by recorded her second goal of the day. The Dukes would add another goal, regaining the five goal lead with a 12-7 advantage.
In the last sixteen minute, neither offense flowed, as the last goal of the game was netted by Schwaab, but was not enough to bring the Owls back from the deficit.
“Offensively, we weren’t as dynamic as we’ve been. I credit Duquesne for playing a good defense against us,” Rosen said.
The loss to Duquesne marks the end of collegiate lacrosse careers for the group of seven Temple seniors, Clothier, Parcell, Swavola, Pace, Megan Chlada, Nina Falcone and Jackie Mercer.
“This is the last time that we’ll all play together. It’s a weird feeling. It’s a feeling that I don’t like. I wish I had another season to play with my teammates,” Parcell said.
Brien Edwards can be reached at brien.edwards@temple.edu or on Twitter @BErick1123.
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