Heading into the 2025 season, Temple Lacrosse players Erin King, Sabrina Martin and Amelia Wright already knew they had big shoes to fill. The trio had spent their careers watching from the sidelines while former stars like midfielder Belle Mastropietro and attackers Mackenzie Roth and Julie Schickling set numerous Temple records.
Mastropietro, Roth and Schickling became the gold standard for the Owls from 2020-24, leading the team to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021 and three trips to the American Athletic Conference tournament. They each graduated following the 2024 season and King, Martin and Wright were expected to help usher in a new era under longtime head coach Bonnie Rosen.
“I think that there’s really no other way than to attack it head on,” King said. “That’s something that’s not easy to prepare for. We use fall ball to really learn our strengths from the people that we have.”
Everything was going according to plan for the first two-and-a-half games of the season. Temple was 1-1 and was tied at six in its game against Saint Joseph’s on Feb. 19, before things took a turn. Wright suffered a lower body injury and the Owls’ offense began to sputter, scoring just one goal the rest of the way in the loss.
The Owls have yet to recover from Wright’s absences and now sit at the bottom of the conference in goals while holding a 2-9 record. Despite the team’s lack of success, King and Martin have stepped up as the team’s top two goal scorers and serve as the main source of offense.
“I think this year we had to step up and do a much bigger role than we previously had anyway but losing Amelia really contributed to that as well,” Martin said. “I think it forced us to step out of our comfort zones and have to do things that we wouldn’t have had to do if we were relying on Amelia.”
Wright was the anchor of the Owls’ offense before her injury. Through two-and-a-half games, she led the way with 12 goals, including a career-high seven against Delaware on Feb. 13. She is still third on the team in goals, trailing behind King with 23 and Martin with 13.
King has become the new offensive engine in Wright’s absence, a realm that was unfamiliar to her before this year. She spent most of last season as a key player coming off the bench but she never started a game. The senior midfielder’s 23 goals this year are already more than her previous three seasons combined.
King’s emergence has been influenced by Rosen’s decision to switch the offensive gameplan. There were growing pains with the more free-flowing offense in comparison to the old system, which was more rigid due to the pressure being solely on her. However, the reins have become easier for King to control with time, which has led to her breakout season.
“I think some of the learning curve is really being in the role and realizing ‘oh, wait, it is actually really on me, like it’s on me 100% of the time to be playing not just in my moments,’” Rosen said. “I think that’s what we’re starting to really see offensively, is the idea that everyone has to be on, not just like ‘when you need me, I’ll be there.’”
While King stepped up almost immediately, it took Martin a bit longer to find her bearings in the offensive attack. Martin eventually found her footing during Temple’s second win of the season against Queens on March 6. Martin had four goals in the rout and she and King combined for eight total.
Martin has found the back of the net in all but one game since the Owls’ loss against Penn on Feb. 26. She has become the Robin to King’s Batman as the two have led the way during Wright’s absence.
While their play hasn’t led to wins, King and Martin have kickstarted the beginning of a new era for a team that needed a reset following the end of last season. Their presence has rubbed off on the underclassmen, who will have to take King’s role after her final season.
“It’s how you become a winning program, not just a winning team,” Rosen said. “I think that that idea of what it takes to show up every day and not just come in practice, but with a purpose to win and to be the best you can be.”
There is no timetable for when Wright could return to the Owls’ lineup. While Temple’s season has been less than ideal, it has yet to go into the full swing of conference play. With a fresh slate going into conference action, the plan is to ride the two offensive staples to set themselves up for a postseason push.
“We’ve talked about how this is a whole new season,” Martin said. “We’re taking everything that we’ve learned, even though we had losses, there’s so much good that still came out of it and we’re getting better every day. So I think taking that and going into conference [play] head on is really important.”
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