At the beginning of the first quarter, sophomore midfielder Sydney Borneman placed herself near the post on a penalty corner. When the ball came her way, she dove swiftly onto the turf and tapped it into the back of the cage, giving the Owls a 1-0 lead they never surrendered.
Borneman’s first career goal helped Temple University field hockey (4-5, 1-5 Big East) beat Drexel University (1-1, 0-0 Colonial Athletic Association) 1-0 at home Sunday afternoon, marking the team’s second straight win after defeating Monmouth University on Friday.
“Coming into this weekend we knew both matches were going to be pretty tight,” said head coach Susan Ciufo. “For us to work through that adversity and the pressure of the game and be able to come out on top, I think it was a really solid weekend for us.”
The Owls’ offense produced numerous scoring opportunities by putting significant pressure on the circle, finishing with 15 shots and nine corner attempts.
Temple dominated the second and third quarters of the game, recording 11 shots on cage compared to Drexel’s two shots.
The Owls have become more of a threat on offense recently, but they still have room to improve by connecting on more of their chances, Ciufo said.
“I am excited that we are getting more shots on goal. I think with that obviously comes that next layer of knocking more in the net,” Ciufo said. “To have nine corners and only one go in, yes we are excited that the one went in, but making sure we are connecting as we move forward that we have two or three would probably be sufficient for us.”
On defense, the Owls continued to play stout and limited the Dragons to eight shots and five penalty corners. The Owls allowed just one goal the entire weekend against Monmouth on Friday, and senior goaltender Cristina Carotenuto continues to have success.
“Cristina is playing great, achieving a shutout today and was only scored on with a stroke on Friday,” Ciufo said. “Cristina has just been a sound presence for us in the goal.”
The Owls are looking to build off their confidence heading into next week, Borneman said.
“I think coming with a 2-0 weekend is super exciting,” Borneman added. “I think it puts us high up there. I think we have to just keep working hard and we had a lot of opportunities in the circle today, we had it down there for a really long time, I think we need to start capitalizing on that.”
Temple will play the University of Delaware (0-0, 0-0 Colonial Athletic Association) in Newark, Delaware on March 21 at 1 p.m.
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