In a game that could define their season, the field hockey team stepped up to the challenge.
The Owls rolled over No. 15 Drexel today at Geasey Field, beating the cross-town rivals 5-1.
Freshman forward Alyssa Delp, who is continuing to emerge as an offensive threat, scored two unassisted goals within the first 10 minutes of the contest.
“Scoring early today was vital to us winning, because we were able to knock down any kind of confidence they had coming into this game,” Delp said.
After Temple came out strong with two goals, the Dragons responded within a minute of Delp’s second score with a goal of their own by junior midfielder Lindsay McArdle. But that would be the only offense that Drexel could find for the rest of the game.
The last major offensive push by the Dragons came in the final eight minutes of the first half. Drexel was able to control possession and keep pressure on a Temple defense that showed it would bend but not break.
“It was a little scary actually, because Drexel definitely had the momentum going into the end of the first half,” senior midfielder Katie Briglia said. “We just had to up the momentum, and it was really important to keep the momentum in our direction.”
The Owls, who were playing without junior captain Molly Doyle due to injury, found other players to step up in her absence from the back line.
Without Doyle, freshmen defenders Taylor Shronk and Rachel Steinman, along with junior Mandi Shearer held the Drexel offense to only one goal and one penalty corner.
“Stuff happens, but you just have to move on,” Briglia said. “We missed [Doyle] out there obviously, but [Steinman], [Shronk], and [Shearer] all were huge in having our defense step it up.
Although Delp led the Temple offense with two goals, two other players found themselves scoring their first collegiate goals.
Minutes before the end of the first half, Shearer found the net on a shot off of a penalty corner. Following Shearer’s goal, sophomore midfielder Sydney Hibshman scored a goal early in the second half off of an assist by sophomore forward Amber Youtz.
Youtz finished off Temple’s offensive explosion with her Atlantic 10 Conference leading sixth goal.
Coach Amanda Janney said that she changed her philosophy coming into today’s game because it was a must win.
“For this weekend we kind of changed our philosophy a little bit,” Janney said. “We usually put our best players in the back, but we needed to put the pressure on because we can’t win if we don’t score.”
Temple improved their record to 3-5 with a win today, and will head into next weekend with a chance to get to an even record.
Next Saturday, Colgate (1-6) will travel to Geasey Field to take on the Owls.
Janney said that today’s win was a big one, but the team needs to refocus on their next game.
“Today was really big, but we have some games next weekend that are very winnable for us,” Janney said. “We want the momentum going into [A-10] conference play, so we want to keep building every game.”
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