Heading into this season, Temple Lacrosse felt confident after securing an American Athletic Conference tournament appearance from last season. But after losing 11 players, including four of the team’s top five scorers, it knew repeating that success was going to be a difficult task.
The goal wasn’t completely out of reach because a number of key players returned to head coach Bonnie Rosen’s squad, including attacker Amelia Wright, midfielder Erin King and goalkeeper Taylor Grollman.
Wright, who was expected to take the offensive lead, did so with 12 goals in the first three games. But Temple’s hopes of returning to the AAC tournament took a blow when Wright went down with an injury against St. Joe’s on Feb. 19. The Owls (2-7, 0-1 American Athletic Conference) have fallen off a cliff since, going 1-5 following her injury.
“It’s not necessarily about filling Amelia’s shoes just because we’re all very different players and nobody is going to replicate her skill,” King said. “I think adjusting and picking up in other places to try to pile on more goals but just trying to build on everyone’s strengths so that we can be a stronger team.”
Temple’s roster features a group of underclassmen who have been forced into larger roles due to other player’s injuries and last year’s seniors graduating. The younger athletes have given the team a spark and they have become crucial players of the field.
The increased playing time has allowed their confidence to grow as the season continues. They’ve developed into key contributors and vocal leaders which has helped cement their status as key pieces for the future.
“It just comes with understanding that we can use our voices and our opinions wherever it can help, the upperclassmen have made that super easy,” said midfielder Sarah Gowman. “Not feeling super intimidated or scared to voice an opinion, whether it’s about a play or something we’re doing in practice and just making it an open book to talk on all concepts and areas of the field that we see could use improvement that are working well for us.”
Gowman is one of the underclassmen who stepped up amid Wright’s absence. She didn’t play at all last season as a freshman but has taken on an important role in her sophomore season.
She has started in eight of nine games this season and has scored eight goals, contributed eight assists and is second on the team in points with 16. She has leaned on the upperclassmen, who have been more than willing to share their knowledge and experience.
“Sarah has really stepped up recently,” King said. “We’re going to be using her in ways that will really go well with her game and play style. I think in practice she’s been doing amazing and she already steps it up a ton but I think we’ll see a lot more offensive power from her.”
While the Owls’ young roster has showcased its potential, it has failed to find consistency.
The first quarter has typically been good for Temple as they remain competitive for the first 15 minutes. But things tend to fall apart after the opening quarter, as Wright’s absence begins to show and the offense stalls. The defense also suffers, facing relentless pressure from opposing offenses.
“Our biggest thing is just playing a full four quarters,” King said. “We just have to stay focused and really not let up the pressure once we’re in games and then capitalize off our good moments, really just focusing on the little wins and making it a domino effect so we can get runs within games.”
While the offense hasn’t been able to produce goals consistently, the defense has fared even worse. Temple allows 14 goals per game, has given up the fourth most total goals in the country and ranks 104th in the country in scoring defense. The Owls’ opponents have 151 more shots this season and they have been outscored by 50 goals.
Grollman is the reason why Temple hasn’t faced more blowouts. The goalkeeper is eighth in the nation in saves and has topped her career-high saves per game twice this season. Grollman was named AAC goalkeeper of the year in the preseason poll and has proved why, saving 18 shots against UMBC on March 1 and 19 against South Florida on March 15.
“Defensively, we’re just trying to push our offense to its limits so they can see the best defense at practice,” Grollman said. “It goes the other way around too, offensively it is trying to give us as a defense a good scout for the other team so we can also be as prepared as possible for those teams.”
Despite the season not going the way the Owls envisioned so far, their conference slate is just starting. The youth on the roster is evident, but so is the talent. If Temple can make the necessary adjustments, its season could turn around.
The Owls have struggled mightily on defense despite the efforts from Grollman and Wright’s injury has hindered the offensive output for the rest of the team. Although the season has been a struggle, Temple hasn’t lost sight of their championship aspirations.
“I don’t think our expectations have changed at all, if anything it’s pushed us to work even harder and be even better. Obviously, losing is never easy,” Grollman said. “Every single one of us on that team wants to get to the championship, wants to win every single game possible and we’re putting in the work to get to that championship come May.”
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