Temple was tied at a goal apiece with No. 16 Penn for almost 11 minutes of the first quarter. The early goal was a promising display of offense for the Owls, especially as the Owls were missing leading scorer Amelia Wright.
Wright went down in the Owls’ last game against St. Joseph’s on Feb. 19 and didn’t play in the second half of the seven-goal loss. Temple scored just one goal following Wright’s departure against the Hawks and despite the early goal Wednesday, the same story unfolded against Penn.
Temple’s offense was non-existent without Wright. They scored just two more goals after the first quarter and both of them came late in the second half when the fate of the game was already decided. Temple’s defense couldn’t combat the offensive struggles and the Owls dropped their second straight game.
Temple (1-3, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) fell to Penn (2-1, 0-0 Ivy League) 14-3 Wednesday afternoon at Penn Park. The Owls’ three goals are the least they have recorded in a game since April 4, 2018, when they scored only three against Florida.
“It’s so hard to explain when you look at the score of this game,” said head coach Bonnie Rosen. “We’re making a lot of gains in our play, we’re getting better at so many things, but we’re just still behind on what we need to be able to do to win the game.”
The Quakers started the scoring four minutes into the contest as attacker Catherine Berkery found attacker Erika Chung for the early lead. Their lead lasted just 16 seconds as Temple midfielder Sarah Gowman buried a free position shot to knot the game at one.
The Owls’ defense almost held off Penn for the rest of the quarter but midfielder Anna Brandt fired off a shot that found the back of the net to take the 2-1 lead heading into the second quarter.
Penn started the second quarter with a bang by attacker Keeley Block getting the third shot past goalkeeper Taylor Grollman to extend its lead to two. Midfielder Gracie Smith followed it up with a goal of her own two-and-a-half minutes later to kickstart a Penn onslaught.
Berkery notched her second goal of the game with eight minutes left in the quarter to continue the Quakers’ rout. Penn kept its foot on the gas and added another goal as Chung found midfielder Lela Greene to take a commanding 6-1 lead.
Penn attempted to seal the Owls’ fate before halftime as attacker Regan O’Brien found attacker Eden Welch. The Quakers went back on the attack and Greene bested Grollman again just 17 seconds later to give Penn an 8-1 lead entering halftime.
“We’re working really hard in practice, building our defensive concepts, building our skill sets,” Rosen said. “Offensively, learning how to break down a high-pressure defense like Penn played today is still something new that we haven’t even experienced this season.”
As the second half began, the Quakers’ aggressive offense continued and the Owls still could not find any response. Berkery wasted little time to find the back of the net and grow their lead to eight. Berkery, riding a wave of momentum, reached a hat trick when she got another goal past Grollman three minutes later.
The Owls finally halted the Quakers’ run when midfielder Lily Caravela took advantage of the free position opportunity to get Temple’s first goal in more than 30 minutes. The Quakers quickly erased the Temple goal as Chung assisted Berkery again to restore the lead to nine.
The Owls’ collapse continued after a goal by Penn attacker Patricia Columbia-Walsh sent the Quakers into the fourth quarter with a 12-2 lead. The Owls tried to mount an insurmountable comeback when Gowman found attacker Lexi Culp a minute and a half into the final quarter, but they weren’t able to build any momentum off it.
The Quakers erased yet another Owls goal as Smith took advantage of the free position goal and Brandt followed it up with another goal to give Penn a 14-3 lead. Brandt’s two goals in the game marked her 149th career goal, an all-time Penn record. Temple stood strong defensively and denied any more goals from Penn but couldn’t produce anything on offense.
This is the second consecutive game that the Owls’ offense has fizzled out without Wright on the field, they recorded just 12 shots and produced only three goals. Temple will miss its main source of offense for the foreseeable future due to an upper-body injury, Rosen said.
Temple will return home when it faces UMBC (4-0, 0-0 America East Conference) on March 1 at noon at Howarth Field.
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