As the ball bounced past senior goalie Haley Mitchell’s outstretched hand and hit the back of the net in the fifth minute of the first overtime period, senior midfielder Sarah Deck collapsed in front of the cage in frustration.
Bucknell University’s two-on-one breakaway goal broke the 1-1 tie and dealt Temple its sixth loss in a row, dropping the squad’s record to 3-10.
“Yes, absolutely [we should have won], with all due respect to Bucknell,” coach Marybeth Freeman said. “Bucknell won today because they deserved to win. Personnel-wise, I think we are a very strong team. Unfortunately, we’re just having trouble exhibiting that over the complete game. Credit to Bucknell, they came out and put their best foot forward. So kudos to them, but we missed another opportunity here.”
Throughout the first half, both teams had trouble getting their offenses going. Bucknell produced six shots and three penalty corner opportunities compared to Temple’s four shots and one penalty corner, but neither team got on the board.
“I think we had the opportunities up front,” sophomore forward Hattie Kuhns said. “It was creating that balance between our forwards that could have been better. Other than that, capitalizing on opportunities could’ve been better.”
The Bison started the scoring in the 53rd minute of the match on an Emily Hitchins goal.
The Owls responded with 10:50 left in regulation as Kuhns tipped in a diving goal off of a cross from senior midfielder Erin Van Horn to tie the match at one.
“We talked at halftime about how they were letting the back post open,” Kuhns said. “I was just waiting for Erin or someone to cross it over so I could tip it in.”
The Owls got three shots, all on penalty corners, off in the final six minutes, but were unable to find the back of the net before regulation ended.
Four and a half minutes into overtime, Kuhns got another shot off, but a Bison defender knocked it away. Twenty seconds later Bucknell’s Kiersten Sydnor and Amy Mucelli raced down the field with the ball, breaking away from the Temple defenders, and forced the two-on-one that led to the game-winning goal.
“The game-winning goal was just a through ball,” senior defender Taylor Shronk said. “It was a two-versus-one and they had a great cross. Both [Sarah] Deck and Haley [Mitchell] tried their best, and it wasn’t an easy goal, so they had to try to step up and intercept the ball. The Bucknell back side got a good touch on it.”
Matt Cockayne can be reached via email at matt.cockayne@temple.edu and on twitter at mattcockayne55.
Be the first to comment