For nearly three and a half quarters, Temple looked outmatched by Delaware in its season opener. The Blue Hens brushed off the Owls’ two early goals and found the back of the net 10 times after Temple’s fast start to turn the game on its head.
Suddenly, the Owls began to find life and started to mount a comeback. They found the back of the net at the end of the third quarter and scored three more times to tie the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Right when it seemed like Temple was going to steal a win, its offense went quiet.
Delaware midfielder Sam Paradise broke the tie just a minute after Temple’s equalizer. The Blue Hens tacked on another goal two minutes later and Temple had its comeback efforts dashed.
Temple (0-1, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) fell to Delaware (1-0, 0-0 Coastal Athletic Association) 12-10 Friday afternoon at Delaware Stadium in Newark, Delaware in its first game of the season. The loss marks Temple’s first season-opening loss since 2019.
“We’re training in practice to really grow our game and everyone is pushing,” said head coach Bonnie Rosen. “You can see amazing moments from every player on the field at some point so if we can string together more of those and make that more than just the 12 on the field.”
The Owls came out of the gates in a hurry to start the year when midfielder Emily Liberio found attacker Lexi Culp just five minutes into the game, taking an early 1-0 lead. The Owls’ aggression continued as they found themselves in scoring position again just four minutes later.
Temple targeted Blue Hens’ defender Kat Baseggio who got called for a foul to give the Owls a free position shot. Midfielder Erin King capitalized on the chance by firing the shot home to double Temple’s lead before the midway point of the first quarter.
Delaware finally got on the board when attacker Delaney McDaniel dished the ball to attacker Ella Rishko. She quickly got the ball past goalkeeper Taylor Grollman to cut the lead in half with five minutes left in the opening quarter. The Blue Hens struck again three minutes later to knot the game at two.
Temple picked up right where it left off when defender Kat Bielinski sent the ball to attacker Jenna Facciolli who netted a goal two minutes into the second quarter. The Owls briefly retook the lead but it didn’t last long as Rishko scored her second goal off a free position shot to tie the game at three.
Delaware almost took its first lead of the game after midfielder Morgan Gore sent off a free position shot but Grollman stepped up and saved the attempt. Temple midfielder Sarah Gowman used the energy of the save to find an open attacker in Kali Saito who swiftly put the Owls back in front.
“We are a young group that’s playing fast,” Rosen said “There is a lot of adjustment between being young and the style of play we’re playing that led to less shots.”
Gore had another opportunity to add to the scoreboard and this time capitalized. The Blue Hens rode the wave of momentum and took a lead 30 seconds later they didn’t give up. McDaniel found the back of the net to give Delaware a 5-4 advantage eight minutes into the second quarter.
Temple’s offense had no response to the Blue Hens onslaught. The Owls only had five shots in the second quarter while the Blue Hens had 13, with 10 coming on goal to Grollman, the AAC’s Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year.
Temple attacker Amelia Wright looked to cut the deficit before halftime and connected on a pass from midfielder Sabrina Martin to put the score at 7-5 entering the locker room. Wright continued to try and single-handedly push the Owls to a win with a career-high four goals on six shots.
Delaware’s offensive attack kept its foot on the gas in the second half. Attacker Maggie Craytor notched a man-up opportunity for her second goal of the afternoon. Gore followed it up by also picking up her second goal of the game to extend the lead to four.
Four minutes after Wright scored again, the Blue Hens were handed another man-up opportunity after a Facciollo foul. Delaware continued its trend of scoring off man-up advantages and McDaniel gave her team their 10th goal of the game.
That’s when Temple started its comeback efforts — King recorded her second goal to close the third quarter. Wright picked up back-to-back goals within 30 seconds to make it a one-point game in the blink of an eye.
Temple put one last goal home to tie the game but it wasn’t enough. The Owls had nine shots in the final quarter but didn’t score another goal past the 10-minute mark. Delaware took full advantage by putting the game out of reach with two straight goals to close the game.
“Right now I’m really encouraging our team to learn to play at speed,” Rosen said “I’m not really worried about turnovers. It’s a little bit of a painful process, we’re just going to keep going after it.”
The Owls will look to bounce back when they take on Rider (0-0, 0-0 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) at Howarth Field on Feb. 12 at 3 p.m.
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