The women’s soccer team battled throughout its entire game against Saint Joseph’s
Friday, but just couldn’t overcome the Hawks’ defense.
The Hawks held off a late-game charge, defeating the Owls, 3-1, at Saint Joseph’s Finnesey Field. The Owls, who fell to 3-9 overall, are still searching for their first Atlantic Ten Conference win.
Though the Owls (0-3 in A-10) dropped both of their A-10 games last weekend, coach David Jones said he was optimistic his team could pull out its first conference victory against their cross-town rivals.
“We thought we were going to have a pretty good chance,” Jones said. The Hawks’ defense held the Owls to just eight shots on goal. The Owls have struggled to create offense all season. They have scored more than one goal only once this season and have been shut out in four other outings.
Jones said the Owls had trouble adjusting
to the field’s artificial turf.
“We knew the turf was going to be a little difficult,” Jones said.The loss extended the Owls’ losing streak to four games. Their last victory came on Sept. 20 against Penn. The Hawks jumped out to an early lead as midfielder Kimmy Leigh put in a rebound from in front of the Temple net with 38:30 left in the first half.
The Owls took only three shots on goal in the first half. However, their defense got a workout, fending off eight of the Hawks’ nine shots on goal in the first half. The score stood at 1-0 at halftime.
St. Joe’s extended its lead 12:35 into the second half when Shannon Osborn received a pass from forward Nancy Cook and beat Temple goalie Liz Tarasevich in the upper-left corner from 20 yards away, giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead. Yet Temple refused to throw in the towel and made a late-game charge.
Owls’ midfielder Katrina Lynch headed a pass from Darlene Beamon into the back of the net to cut the Hawks’ lead to 2-1 with 5:41 to play. But it was too late for the Owls. The comeback bid ended when the referees questionably ruled a Hawks’ attack into Temple territory onside. Osborn then recorded her second goal off a corner kick at 87:02, sealing the win for St. Joseph’s.
Jones said the non-offside ruling left the Owls feeling “a little unlucky.”
“We couldn’t score earlier instead of late,” Jones said. “Unfortunately that’s our season right now.”
Pete Dorchak can be reached at pdorchak@temple.edu.
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