After a late goal by sophomore defender Erin Lafferty, the Temple Owls continued their winning streak, defeating the Loyola Maryland Greyhounds 1-0 in overtime on Sunday afternoon.
“To be able to go on the road and win four times, it doesn’t happen,” coach Seamus O’Connor said “Now [the players] don’t see why we just can’t keep going.”
Temple (4-0) has begun the 2013 season with historic achievements. The Owls have earned the program’s first 4-0 start and have tied the program record for consecutive shutouts (4), a record that has stood since 1993.
“I was so excited [to score the gamewinning goal],” Lafferty said. “We wanted to win more than anything. This was our game. We knew that we had it. Once that [goal] went in, we made history for our school.”
For Loyola (1-1), Sunday’s loss is their first of the season.
Both teams’ defenses held strong through more than 100 minutes of play, allowing a total of 16 shots, eight for both Temple and Loyola. Temple won the shots on goal battle 5-2, with Lafferty leading all players with two.
At goalkeeper, Owls’ sophomore Shauni Kerkhoff registered her fourth straight shutout and saved two shots in a win. The Greyhounds’ junior goalkeeper Colleen Folan recorded four saves in a loss.
“We have very talented players on our defense,” Kerkhoff said. “We just have such strong individual players and it just so happens that they make a very successful cohesive unit. They’re a huge part of our success.”
Through 90 minutes and two periods of play, both Temple and Loyola stood scoreless with both team’s offenses lacking shot opportunities. The result was one overtime period.
Near the end of the period, in the 105th minute, a Loyola foul led to Lafferty scoring on a free kick to win the game.
“[In overtime] we are the one’s who played four games and we’re outrunning them,” O’Connor said. “It just comes down to heart. They just wanted it. The confidence is there.”
Brien Edwards can be reached at brien.erick.edwards@temple.edu or on twitter @BErick1123
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