Temple came off a huge upset win against the No. 6 ranked Penn State, but make no mistake, Sunday’s home game against Richmond had no shortage of thrills either.
It took overtime to do it, but Temple beat their former Atlantic 10 Conference rival 3-2, capping off what has proven to be a memorable weekend for the Owls.
“It still hasn’t hit me,” redshirt junior goalkeeper and co-captain Lizzy Millen said. “It has just been such an amazing weekend to compete with such high ranked teams and come out on top. It’s honestly the best feeling and it’s about time that we found some success.”
Temple now stands with a 3-1 record on the year and Millen has been a big reason why.
Fresh off of a six-save shutout against Penn State, Millen made another six saves on Sunday at Geasey Field.
With just over 12 minutes left in regulation, Millen made a desperation save by diving out to stop the ball.
The initial save was made, but the Richmond forwards kept trying to force the ball in.
Yet somehow, Millen was able to keep the ball out of the net, while still lying on the ground, to keep the game tied until it was finally cleared out.
There was another close call right at the start of overtime, as Millen had to make a quick save right from the get-go. The real scare came from a shot off the rebound. Millen was out of the ball’s reach and couldn’t do anything but watch the ball pass her. Thankfully for her, and the rest of the team, the ball rolled just wide of the net.
That may have been the turning point of the game, because soon after, junior forward Amber Youtz netted the golden goal to end it.
Prior to that, the Owls were spending a lot of time on defense trying to keep Richmond at bay.
“It was very frustrating,” Millen said. “The whole time we were playing, we were trying to figure out what we were doing wrong and who needs to step up where and do what. [Senior midfielder/defender and co-captain Molly Doyle] and the rest of the defenders and I really held down the fort back there and thankfully outletted it and it worked out with Amber.”
Youtz also scored in the first half with 1:48 left on the clock. With the game tied 1-1 at that point, Youtz cut across to the front of the net and fired a shot by the goalkeeper to give Temple a 2-1 lead.
With the clock winding down in the second half and both teams pushing for a late goal, Youtz collided with a Richmond defender. She was slow to get up, but she stayed in the game.
“She did rock me and they were going for the body, but I just felt like all my teammates had my back,” Youtz said. “They were saying ‘we still need you’ and to ‘keep your head into it’ and that’s just what got me through – my teammates helping me out the rest of the time.”
The hit just added to what was already a physical game.
In the first half, Richmond had to go without sophomore midfielder Avery Safford, after she took a stick to the face on the follow through of a pass by freshman defender Michelle Walsh.
Then sophomore defender Taylor Shronk and Richmond‘s junior midfielder Rebecca Barry each received yellow cards in the latter part of the second half.
“Every time we play an A-10 opponent everyone is aggressive,” head coach Amanda Janney said. “The teams want to win and everyone is going to get a little physical out there, but our girls did a great job to keep their composure and fight threw some hard tackles and find a way to win.”
The Owls fell behind early after Richmond scored the first goal of the day on a penalty corner, but senior midfielder/defender and co-captain Molly Doyle kept them in the game with a goal on one of Temple’s own penalty corners.
Similar to Friday night’s win against Penn State, the Owls were outshot by their opponent, this time 16-7. But, much like Friday night, Temple took advantage of their fewer opportunities.
Temple will be hitting the road to play the University of Delaware on Friday at 7:00 PM.
Nick Tricome can be reached at tue55707@temple.edu or on Twitter @itssnick215.
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