Temple pulled ahead in the last four minutes of Saturday’s game against Rutgers University to earn a 13-11 win in its season opener at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Sophomore midfielder Amber Lambeth scored the go-ahead goal with four minutes, 31 seconds left in the second half. Lambeth led all scorers with four goals, the first tallies of her career.
“I think one of the most exciting things about our team right now is that there are a lot of players that haven’t had a chance to be front and center quite yet,” coach Bonnie Rosen said. “Today was Amber’s first day to really get to do that. She has been working really hard in practice and we were really thrilled with her play.”
The Scarlet Knights, picked to finish sixth in the Big Ten’s preseason poll, didn’t make the win easy for Temple.
The Owls’ win wasn’t sealed until senior midfielder Morgan Glassford scored on a free-position shot with 4:15 left.
Senior midfielder Krissy Gallvian scored the first goal of the season for the Owls with 27:16 left in the first half. The Scarlet Knights took a 2-1 lead, their only lead of the game, 10 minutes later on a goal by junior midfielder Paige Paratore.
Temple then went on a 5-0 run to take a 6-2 lead with 5:44 left in the first half. Graduate attacker Brenda McDermott had two goals and two of her four assists during the run. The four-goal lead was the Owls’ largest of the game.
Rutgers battled back and got within one goal, but senior attacker Brooke Williams scored her only goal of the game to give Temple a 7-5 lead going into the second half.
That lead didn’t last long and Rutgers tied the game up 8-8 with 24:03 left in the second half.
Temple answered with a 3-0 run that included two Lambeth goals to go ahead 11-8. Rutgers came back on a 3-0 run of its own to tie it up again with 8:01 left.
Redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Kelsea Hershey got the win in her first career start. She allowed eight goals in 39:45 of action before freshman Maryn Lowell finished the game in net.
After losing 12 seniors to graduation, Rosen is happy with what she saw in her young team. The Owls beat Rutgers 25-16 in shots on goal and had seven different players score on the day.
Junior attacker Nicole Barretta came off the bench and to score two goals on three shots, and senior midfielder Krissy Gallivan scored two goals in her first start since 2015.
“I’m really excited with the depth we have on this team,” Rosen said. “There are a lot of people we have on the bench right now that contributed to the way we played. Everyone is willing to play a role.. we had a lot of people starting for the first time today and people who came off the bench and everyone was ready.”
Temple improves to 16-6 all-time against the Scarlet Knights.
“Rutgers was a great test for us, they are athletic, fast, tough and coached really well,” Rosen said. “For us to come away with that win today under constant pressure of a score that was getting close all the time was really a testament to the character of this team. We will take this win and we will learn from it.”
Temple’s home opener is on Wednesday against Monmouth University at 3 p.m.
Tessa Sayers can be reached at teresa.sayers@temple.edu. Follow The Temple News on Twitter @TheTempleNews and @TTN_Sports.
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