When Belle Mastropietro first stepped onto Howarth Field four years ago, she was a very talented recruit from the region, but no one could’ve predicted the profound impact she’d have on Temple Lacrosse. Now, she’s imprinted across the program’s record books and is the anchor of one of the school’s top teams.
The midfielder was second on the team in goals as a sophomore, then capped the season off by scoring the game-winning goal in the 2021 NCAA tournament against UMass. She continued to shine, breaking the record for most draw controls in a season in 2022 while being named to three consecutive All-American Athletic Conference teams and awarded back-to-back Midfielder of the Year titles in 2022 and 2023.
Despite her success, the Owls have failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament since 2021 and stumbled to a second-to-last finish in the AAC in 2023.
“I definitely was sad [last season] but I knew I had a fifth year of eligibility so I don’t know if it ever felt like my last season for real,” Mastropietro said.
Heading into the 2024 campaign of her final year on North Broad, Mastropietro has a chance to seal her career legacy by taking the Owls back to the NCAA tournament.
Mastropietro has a fifth year of eligibility after her first season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following a disappointing end to the season, she made an easy decision about where to play her final year of college lacrosse.
“I just love playing with all these girls,” Mastropietro said. “I don’t think I could imagine myself going anywhere else.”
Using previous failure as motivation, Temple has already surpassed last season’s win total of seven games and had the best start to a season since 2013.
Mastropietro has been the most consistent scorer for the Owls throughout her career. There have only been four games where she has not generated a goal, and she was the only Owl to score in every game during the 2021 season.
This year has been more of the same for Mastropietro, finding the back of the net at least twice every game and scoring six hat-tricks on the season. She currently ranks top 100 in the country and leads the team in goals with 32. She is driven to steer clear of another disappointing outcome this season, pushing the team even harder toward their goals.
“She loves competing, she loves playing and she loves Temple,” said Temple head coach Bonnie Rosen. “I think when you end the season falling short, you always want more. It’s been a really big year for her to come back and help lead this team and go after her dreams and help us try to accomplish our goals of making a big run at the end of the year.”
Mastropietro continued to expand on her storied career when she became the first Owl in Temple history to have more than 300 draw controls against Penn on Feb. 28. She became just the 10th active player in the NCAA to achieve the accomplishment.
The Springfield, Pennsylvania, native has also left an impact on the AAC. Mastropietro holds the AAC record for most career draw controls with 334 while becoming one of three players in the conference who has more than 100 draw controls in a single season.
“Almost from the time [Mastropietro] came in, she had a decent amount of the game put on her,” Rosen said. “She just is the type of player that very quickly was mature beyond her years. She’s been in a position of having to learn while really being at the front of the show. She has these huge games, and those are wonderful, but just playing a consistent game all over really is a foundational piece to our team.”
Mastropietro’s success has trickled down to her teammates as motivation. The Owls’ leading scorer has become a leader in the locker room, and players look up to her as a culture setter for the team.
“[Mastropietro] is a super motivating teammate,” said midfielder Maeve Tobin. “She works so hard and she’s never settling so watching her work hard and motivating people has inspired me a lot, especially as one of her classmates and teammates for the past few years.”
Temple’s Achilles heel the last two seasons was their inability to defeat winning programs. The Owls attempted to fix that with a win against Delaware on Feb. 21, but have dropped their four games against ranked opponents. The Owls lost to No. 21 Yale on Feb. 24, No.13 Penn on Feb. 28, No.17 USC on March 8 and No.12 JMU on April 6.
The Owls sit at third in the AAC less than a month into conference play. The season marks Mastropietro’s last chance to get back to the AAC tournament and make her second appearance in the NCAA tournament.
However, Mastropietro just wants to focus on the game in front of her and enjoy the last month of playing the sport she loves.
“I can say that I want to make it to the conference tournament and win, but that doesn’t happen without winning these next games in the next couple weeks,” Mastropietro said. “But it being the last year, you know it’s going to come to an end at some point, one way or another. We’re just really trying to make the most of our last couple months and make sure we go out on a high note.”
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