Through the first three quarters, it looked like Temple was going to cruise to a win against East Carolina on Saturday. The Owls held a four-goal lead heading into the final quarter after scoring four goals in both the second and third quarters.
Temple was playing solid on both sides of the field and looked to continue that for another 15 minutes. Instead, they collapsed and the Pirates scored four goals in the final quarter while denying every Temple attempt to force an overtime period.
The Owls’ offense looked to come back alive in overtime and took the first shot of the period but it was saved. Their defense continued to struggle in the extra period, allowing the Pirates to send off a shot which was the only attempt they needed as it found the back of the net.
Temple (2-9, 0-2 American Athletic Conference) fell to East Carolina (3-6, 1-1 AAC) 11-10 Friday afternoon at Howarth Field. The Owls haven’t won an overtime game since they beat Saint Joseph’s on March 13, 2021.
“The four goals is nice, once you get to three goals, that swing happens fast and you put yourself into sudden victory, it ends abruptly,” said head coach Bonnie Rosen. “We gave ourselves a chance at the first offensive possession, can’t ask for much more than that.”
Neither team could get their offensive engines started until ECU had a man-up opportunity after eight minutes of action. Attacker Riley Matthiesen took advantage and sent a shot past Temple keeper Taylor Grollman. The lead only lasted a minute as Owls’ midfielder Kaitlyn Stankavage leveled the game at one.
Temple sent off four consecutive shots until midfielder Emily Liberio’s attempt connected. ECU didn’t let the Owls get their hopes up as attacker Katelyn Sclafani tied the game at two. The Pirates continued their offensive attack and added two more goals in the final 30 seconds of the first quarter.
It took Owls’ midfielder Sarah Gowman just 46 seconds into the second quarter to cut into her team’s deficit and midfielder Erin King followed it up with a goal of her own to tie the game. Temple didn’t let its foot off the gas and midfielder Lily Caravela got in on the scoring action. Both teams added another goal and Temple took the 6-5 lead heading into the locker room.
Grollman struggled in the net, allowing five Pirate goals in her 24 minutes and backup keeper Colleen Berardino eventually took her place. ECU attacker Erin Gulden took advantage of Berardino’s cold legs and got a shot past her just two minutes into the second half.
“It always comes as a little bit of a surprise but you have to be ready, everyone warms up,” Berardino said. “When my name was called, I was excited and ready to contribute where I fit on the field.”
Temple found a spark and dominated for the rest of the third quarter. The Pirates’ defense couldn’t stop the Owls as they scored four goals in the frame. Temple’s defense followed suit and denied any more ECU goals in the quarter to take a 10-6 lead.
“We had a lot of great communication today,” Gowman said. “We made it a big effort to keep our off ball movement strong, hard, fast and having girls cutting away from each other and cutting to helped us all connect on the offensive side.”
The Pirates looked to start their comeback attempt right away and they did just that when Matthiesen scored just two minutes into the fourth quarter. ECU rode its offensive momentum and midfielder Grace Moore beat Berardino to pull her team back within arm’s reach.
The Owls couldn’t get anything going offensively and the slump influenced their defense. Gulden found attacker Leah Bestany, whose shot went straight to the back of the net to cut their deficit to just 10-9. Temple’s defense needed to stay strong for another six and a half minutes but Gowman fouled Bestany with just four seconds remaining. Bestany took advantage of the free position shot to send the game to a sudden death overtime.
Gowman had the first shot of overtime but Pirate goalkeeper Jamie Behar stopped the attempt. Berardino tried to extend the game to give her squad another chance but she wasn’t able to save Matthiesen’s shot as Temple dropped its fourth consecutive game.
“We were finally in a position where we were holding the lead for a bit and clearly were still learning how to have the confidence to finish things out towards the end,” Rosen said. “We haven’t been in this position very much so the little errors and things that happen to build a lead but lacrosse is truly a game of runs.”
Temple will travel to Nashville, Tennessee to take on Vanderbilt (5-6, 1-1 AAC) on April 5 at 10:30 a.m.
Be the first to comment