Two minutes before halftime, Temple found a breakthrough in its game against Saint Joseph’s. Owls’ midfielder Emily Liberio was able to find the back of the net to bring the team back from three goals down and shift the energy before the intermission.
Instead of carrying the momentum, the Owls were stopped in their tracks as the second half started. The Hawks came out of the locker room and snatched their first win of the season.
Temple (1-2, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) collapsed against St. Joe’s (1-3, 0-0 A-10 Conference) 14-7 at Howarth Field. Temple’s 1-2 start is its worst start to a season since 2020 when it started 1-3.
St. Joe’s poured in six straight goals in the blink of an eye to steal momentum. While the Owls were able to get a goal in the fourth quarter to soften the blow, the Hawks scored two more goals to deliver the knockout punch.
”It feels we’re a little behind where we want to be, come game day but we’re getting better,” said head coach Bonnie Rosen. “No different had we won this game or lost this game, we’d be in the same process of getting better.”
The Owls came flying out of the gate as midfielder Sarah Gowman found attacker Amelia Wright who put home a shot past Hawks goalkeeper Jorden Concordia. Temple attacker Lexi Culp found Gowman five minutes later to double the Temple lead.
The Owls’ defense made life difficult for the Hawks for much of the first quarter, limiting their offensive opportunities. St. Joe’s midfielder Kate Kaptrosky finally got the Hawks on the board with three minutes left in the first quarter to cut Temple’s lead in half.
The Hawks only needed two minutes to find an equalizer, this time in the form of attacker Alexa Capozzoli, who knotted the game. Temple found itself in a hole roughly a minute later as goalkeeper Taylor Grollman was unable to corral a shot from midfielder Maddie Yoder. The Hawks piled on two more goals before the quarter came to an end to send the Owls into the second quarter in a 5-2 hole.
The Owls were searching for a way to cut into the Hawks lead as the second quarter got underway. Temple midfielder Erin King got the comeback efforts underway as she put home a pass from attacker Jenna Facciolli to bring St. Joes’ lead to 5-3. Just a minute later, Culp earned a free position shot and beat Concordia to make it a one goal game.
Facciolli found Liberio who ripped a shot and tied the game. St. Joe’s promptly responded when Yoder got her second goal of the game to put an end to the Owls’ run. Yoder helped spearhead the offense, finishing the game with three goals on seven shots. Temple was able to head into the locker room tied up after Liberio recorded her second goal of the contest with two minutes left in the half.
”We’re definitely working to push the ball a little bit, knowing we can trust each other on the field no matter what,” Liberio said. “Every game is going to look different depending on the scout, but every practice we’re working hard no matter what.”
Capozzoli kicked off a massive second half by assisting midfielder Lauren Iorio four minutes into the third quarter to take the lead. St. Joe’s struck again as Capozzoli picked up another assist to Kaptrosky to push the Hawks lead to two.
Temple’s offense remained non-existent throughout the third quarter, only managing two shots on goal, both of which were easily saved by Concordia. St Joe’s attacker Emma Yoder tacked on another goal with two minutes left in the third quarter to put Temple in a three goal hole.
Capozzoli continued to pick apart the Owls’ defense and collected another assist, this time to Grorak three minutes into the third quarter. Less than a minute later, the Capozzoli and Grorak duo struck again for another goal to push the Hawk’s lead to five. St. Joe’s added one more goal from Maddie Yoder to make it a six goal run.
“Whatever concepts they’re trying to put in for the next game, just putting those in and making sure that we’re always talking,” said defender Madison Moten. “Working together, I think each experience is a really good building block for us down the road.”
Temple’s offense finally awoke from its slumber with a goal from Culp with nine minutes left to provide a faint light of hope for the Owls. Instead of building on the goal, Temple went crashing right back down. St. Joes scored a pair of goals in the final two minutes for good measure as it handed Temple its second loss.
The Owls will stay in Philadelphia as they travel to take on the University of Pennsylvania (1-0, 0-0 Ivy League) on Feb. 26 at 5 p.m.
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