The No. 16 Owls were on the receiving end of a 1-0 shutout to Old Dominion last Sunday, but they were on the opposite side of a shutout this Sunday.
Temple defeated No. 20 Drexel 1-0 to improve to 12-4 with three games remaining on the regular season schedule. It’s the team’s second straight shutout this weekend, after beating Appalachian State 4-0 on Friday afternoon at Geasey Field.
Since defeating the then No. 6 ranked Penn State 3-0 on Sept. 6, the Owls struggled in match-ups against ranked teams, losing to then No. 17 Louisville in overtime 2-1 on Oct. 4 and then No. 20 Old Dominion last weekend.
Junior midfielder Nicole Kroener scored the only goal of the game via a penalty stroke just over 11 minutes into the second half. Kroener fired a shot past Drexel junior goalkeeper Jantien Gunter, who tried to distract Kroener before the shot by moving around in the cage.
“The goalies like to try and intimidate you,” Kroener said. “I don’t even look at them before I shoot. I work on them a lot in practice, so I know where I’m going with it.”
“Today was a really good team win for us,” Kroener added. “We came out in the first half and really used everyone.”
Temple’s defense took over after the goal, keeping Drexel off the board until the clock hit zero.
“The defense played outstanding today,” coach Amanda Janney said. “It might have been the best game they played all season.”
“We knew it was going to be a battle today,” sophomore midfielder Sarah Deck said. “If we could shut them down defensively we would be golden and we did.”
Drexel had seven shots on Sunday, putting three of the on goal. However, redshirt junior goalkeeper Lizzy Millen saved all three of them for her fifth shutout of the year.
Although there was only one goal scored for the day, Temple had a few good scoring opportunities.
The Owls had five penalty corners, but couldn’t make anything of them. They had a great opportunity on their last corner when Deck picked up the ball and sent a pass over to sophomore forward Alyssa Delp in front.
Delp took the shot, but it sailed right over the top of the cage.
Junior forward Amber Youtz also generated a few scoring chances with runs towards the cage, but was never able to fully break through Drexel’s defense.
“Amber is making a lot of good runs on the ball and we need to support her and give her better guard passes, that way we can shift to defense better,” Kroener said. “She can only dribble through so many people. I think once we work on that and get a little more movement between each other in the front line we will capitalize more.”
Temple will return to Geasey Field on Friday for a Big East matchup against Georgetown at 3 p.m. Friday will also be senior day, and the last home game for midfielders/defenders Molly Doyle, Mandi Shearer and forward Lauren Hunt.
Nick Tricome can be reached at nick.tricome@temple.edu or on Twitter @itssnick215.
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