Temple faced a tall task heading into its game against No. 2 North Carolina. The Owls rank 97th in the nation in scoring offense where the Tar Heels boast the fourth best, averaging 17.4 goals. To make matters worse, Temple is 86th in scoring defense and it needed to find a way to get past the second best scoring defense in the country.
The Owls did not stand a chance, which was put on display just 44 seconds into the game when the Tar Heels had already gone up by two goals. The Tar Heels continued to dominate the entire game on both sides of the field. Temple didn’t find the back of the net in the entire second half and allowed 12 consecutive goals.
Temple (1-5, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) couldn’t compete against No. 2 North Carolina (6-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) as it fell 19-3 Tuesday evening at Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The Owls’ 16 goal loss is its worst since March 10, 2012 when they fell to No. 5 Florida by 17 goals.
KEY MOMENTS
- North Carolina kicked off the game strong, taking a 2-0 lead within the first 44 seconds of the game behind goals from attackers Chloe Humphrey and Ashley Humphrey.
- Owls’ midfielder Sarah Gowman found the back of the net to cut their deficit to 2-1 after five minutes of action.
- North Carolina responded less than a minute later with another goal from Chloe Humphrey. Tar Heels’ attackers Olivia Vergano and Marissa White followed it up by each adding a goal of their own.
- Temple started to play tougher on offense and it paid off as midfielder Sabrina Martin found the goal to end North Carolina’s run with three and a half minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
- The Tar Heels didn’t let off the gas and Ashley Humphrey scored again to take a 6-2 lead entering the second quarter.
- Chloe Humphrey extended her team’s lead three and a half minutes into the second quarter. However, that’s when the Owls’ defense turned up the notch and forced a North Carolina shot-clock violation.
- Temple attacker Kali Saito fired off back-to-back shots but she couldn’t turn them into points. However, she sent another attempt which connected to give the Owls their sole goal of the second quarter with three minutes remaining.
- North Carolina shot two more times before halftime but Temple goalkeeper Taylor Grollman only managed to stop one of them as the Tar Heels went into the locker room up 8-3.
- Chloe Humphrey found attacker Kiley Mottice who easily scored to open up the second half. North Carolina scored six more goals before the fourth quarter to extend its lead to 15-3.
- Temple had its first free position opportunity four minutes into the third quarter but it dished the ball out instead of attempting a shot.
- Grollman had back-to-back saves but that was Temple’s defensive highlight of the third quarter.
- The Tar Heels added four more goals in the final quarter while shutting out the Owls to cruise to the win.
THE NUMBERS
- Temple only shot twice in the first quarter but both found the back of the net. North Carolina sent off 10 shots and found the target eight times.
- The Tar Heels out performed the Owls in every statistical category. They outshot the Owls 46-14, had 16 more draw controls and picked up one more ground ball.
- Chloe Humphrey scored six goals and had two assists. Ashley Humphrey and White also picked up hat tricks with three goals each. Ashley Humphrey led her team with four assists on the day.
- Grollman had six saves in the first three quarters before goalkeeper Colleen Beradino took her place and recorded five saves.
ON TAP
Temple will stay in North Carolina when it faces Queens (2-4, 0-0 Atlantic Sun Conference) in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 7 at noon.
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