As the horn sounded, Temple players started to celebrate. They ran to the sideline with sticks in hand, and congregated near their bench.
Not only did the horn signal the end of the Owls’ 11-7 win against Marquette University on Saturday afternoon, but it also meant the first Big East Conference victory for the team.
“This win was really important,” freshman attacker Nicole Barretta said. “It was big just to show the rest of the conference that we are still important. It was also really important for us in terms of momentum.”
In the beginning of the game, it was Marquette who had the momentum. Within the first six minutes, the Golden Eagles got two goals, one each from Riley Hill and Hayley Baas.
With 21 minutes, 26 seconds left in the half, sophomore midfielder Morgan Glassford’s tally got Temple on the scoreboard, and started a 7-0 run that lasted 18 minutes, 13 seconds. The Owls got two goals from Barretta, Glassford, and junior midfielder Nicole Tiernan, and one score from junior defender Summer Jaros during that time span.
Junior captain defender Maddie McTigue talked about the early deficit and how her team responded.
“Well, it seems to be a theme that we always go down first,” McTigue said. “I think that the first two goals were ones we knew we could stop, so we regrouped after the two, came together, got the draw, and started to get on the scoreboard.”
Marquette got one more score before halftime, as Baas scored her second of three goals to put the score at 7-3 in favor of Temple. The Owls secured eight draw controls in the first period compared to the Eagles’ three, which led to more shots on goal and opportunities to score.
After Marquette opened up the second half with two scores, Barretta responded with her third of the day to secure the hat trick and put Temple up by three with just under 18 minutes in regulation.
“Nicole is certainly a gamer,” coach Bonnie Rosen said. “I thought she had some great opportunities to put the ball in the net, and her finishing was really important for us today. I was really happy that she was kind of able to get the momentum going.”
An unassisted Molly Donovan goal for the Eagles cut Temple’s lead back to two with just over 12 minutes left, but a 3-1 run to end the game that included Glassford and Tiernan’s third goals, and two assists from Barretta assured the win for the Owls.
Temple’s victory and Cincinnati’s fourth straight conference loss, gave the Owls sole possession of sixth place in the Big East with a 1-4 record.
“Today was a huge win,” McTigue said. “We were 0-3 in the Big East before this, and honestly it was a really big win for us. [For a spot in the Big East tournament], we need to win out the rest of our games, and look for lapses in other teams’ play as well.”
The Owls (9-4) and their four seniors will play their final home game of the season on Wednesday, April 15th, for Senior Day against Big East and Philadelphia rival Villanova.
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