When Saturday’s game ended, Temple fans hugged each other and cheered while the players swarmed graduate attacker Brenda McDermott before chanting, “I believe we have won.”
With two minutes, 44 seconds left in the second half, Marquette University sophomore midfielder Grace Gabriel tied the game. McDermott got a shot off with 10 seconds left, but it was high.
With 1:18 left in overtime, redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Kelsea Hershey made a save to keep the game going. McDermott got the ball from redshirt-freshman defender Taylor Gooch and got another chance to win the game with 19 seconds left. This time the ball went in the back of the net and Temple (8-2, 1-1 Big East Conference) came away with a 17-16 victory against Marquette.
Temple remains undefeated at home, improving to 5-0. McDermott and junior attacker Nicole Barretta each led Temple with six points. McDermott had three goals and three assists.
“I knew once Kelsea made that save we were going to win, I just had that feeling,” McDermott said. “Taylor was running the ball down the field and I got the ball from her and from there I went as hard as I could. …The clock was running out, so I knew I had to get to the cage.”
Temple started the second half with a goal from freshman attacker and midfielder Olivia Thompson to put the team up 13-8. Thompson scored a career-high four goals. Senior attacker Anna Frederick also had four points with two goals and two assists.
Thompson hadn’t scored since the Owls’ win against La Salle on March 2 but had two assists in the three games in that span.
“Usually I play behind,” Thompson said. “We made the adjustment of putting me in the middle looking for cuts from feeds…and it seemed to work out. We had a good connection.”
Marquette answered with a 4-0 run to make the score 13-12 with 20:51 left. The Golden Eagles’ run featured goals from Gabriel, sophomore midfielder Logan Dobratz and redshirt-senior midfielder Taylor Smith. After the final goal of Marquette’s run, Hershey replaced freshman goalkeeper Maryn Lowell.
Lowell played 31:14, finishing her day with one save and nine goals allowed. Hershey, who earned the win, played 31:27 and gave up seven goals. She made six saves, two of which in overtime.
“If we think someone can give a different look and is ready to play and might do something different, we are ready to make that change,” coach Bonnie Rosen said. “The balls were going in a little bit with Maryn and we figured, ‘why not give Kelsea a try.’”
“It gives them a different look,” Rosen added. “Kelsea’s taller and she saw a few shots, then she made some big saves. It was great today, Kelsea stepped up and that is the role Maryn played early in the season.”
Gabriel led both teams with six goals, while Dobratz and Smith each ended with one. Nine different Golden Eagles scored. Senior attacker Amanda Bochniak tallied back-to-back goals to tie the game at 14 with 10:49 left. Sophomore midfielder Lindsey Willcocks gave Marquette its first lead of the second half after she scored with 9:31 left.
Willcocks’ goal led to a Temple timeout along with defensive substitutions. After the timeout, Barretta, who led Temple with five goals, scored back-to-back goals to Temple up 16-15 with 6:47 to play.
“We are looking at the field and what else we can add,” Rosen said. “Marquette had figured a few things out so something just changing personnel can change things like that too.”
Ten seconds after Gabriel’s game-tying goal, Temple got the ball on the draw after a Marquette foul. After missing the last game due to an injury, senior midfielder Morgan Glassford came up with a ground ball with two minutes left to give the Owls a much-needed possession and set up McDermott’s late shot.
Temple finished with 17 ground balls and 22 draw controls. Marquette finished with 14 ground balls and 13 draw controls. Senior midfielder Krissy Gallivan led both teams with four ground balls, and Glassford led both teams with eight draw controls.
The Owls took a 2-0 lead on goals from sophomore midfielder Amber Lambeth and senior attacker Carly Demato, but Marquette went on a 5-0 run. Rosen called a timeout and her team responded with a 7-0 run and held the Golden Eagles scoreless for 9:21.
Temple will head on the road to face Georgetown University on April 1 after playing six of its last seven games in Philadelphia.
“The pressure doesn’t let up,” Rosen said. “With only four out of 10 teams getting into our tournament, every game is pivotal. Georgetown is the next one in our path and our goal is to prepare for them.”
Tessa Sayers can be reached at teresa.sayers@temple.edu or on Twitter @SayersTessa. Follow The Temple News @TheTempleNews and @TTN_Sports.
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