Behind a pair of hat tricks by senior midfielders Stephany Parcell and Charlotte Swavola, the Temple Owls defeated the George Washington Colonials 12-9, Friday on Geasey Field.
“Our seniors came in ready to hold the team together today,” coach Bonnie Rosen said. “Of course they got great contributions across the board, but really from one through seven, they were the key to getting us going.”
Temple (9-6, 4-2 Atlantic 10 Conference) rebounded from two straight A-10 losses with a conference victory that likely clinches an A-10 tournament berth. The George Washington (9-6, 3-3A-10) loss doesn’t push the Colonials out of the postseason, but forces them into a must-win scenario in their final conference matchup.
“It feels amazing,” Parcell said. “We wanted it so bad last year and I feel like this team wanted it even more this year. And to feel like we did what we had to do, take care of business, did what we had to do to get into the tournament feels great.”
In addition to Swavola and Parcell’s hat tricks, attackers junior Jaymie Tabor and Rachel Schwaab recorded a pair of goals each. Schwaab also recorded a game-high five draw controls. Midfielders junior Kelly Syphard and senior Kellee Pace pitched in with a single goal apiece.
Between the bars, senior goalie Meghan Clothier received her eighth win of the season and recorded four saves.
The Colonials were also led by a couple of hat tricks recorded by senior attack Nicole Lacey and sophomore midfielder Rachel Mia. Sophomore midfielder Jamie Bumgardner recorded a goal and two assists.
Senior goalie Jess Hicks collected a game-high seven saves in the loss.
In the first seven minutes of the game, Swavola and Parcell netted their first goals and Temple led the George Washigton 2-1. The Colonials responded to the Owls early scores with a run of four unanswered goals, turning the Owls’ one point advantage into a three-point deficit.
After going scoreless for nearly 11 minutes, the Owls found the back of the net on a Syphard score, but with 3:18 left in the period Lacey recorded her second goal of the game.
Minutes later, Swavola closed the first half with a goal, making the halftime score a 6-4 George Washington lead.
Temple would redeem their scoreless stretches from the first period by finding the goal often to start the second half. The Owls offense opened up the second period with a 5-0 run.
“We kind of just got our heads together,” Swavola said. “We decided to stay composed. We weren’t playing our game in the first half and we were still in it. Good enough to win it, stay composed and we’ll find our options.”
Temple did not trail for the rest of the game, outscoring the Colonials 8-3 in the final period. Every second half George Washington score was responded to by the Owls, who did not allow consecutive opponent goals.
With just under four minutes left in the game, the Owls possessed the final draw and effectively ran out the game clock, securing the victory.
“We don’t take getting into the tournament for granted one bit. We just wanted to get ourselves there and I believe we’ve done that,” Rosen said.
Brien Edwards can be reached at brien.edwards@temple.edu or on twitter @BErick1123.
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