On Sunday afternoon in Easton, Pennsylvania, Temple continued its hot streak, scoring four goals on 13 shots and six penalty corners in its 4-1 victory against Lafayette College.
The win marked the Owls’ third in a row and the last non-conference match on the Owls’ schedule.
“I think anytime we can get a win on the road is a great step for us,” coach Marybeth Freeman said. “I think it’s huge going into our final conference game against Villanova. I think that we are in a state where we’re playing really aggressive hockey, but balanced and smart hockey.”
In the first 10 minutes of the first half, the Owls scored two goals – a tap-in goal from senior forward Tricia Light in the sixth minute and a shot from the top of the circle by senior forward Alyssa Delp with 25:38 left in the period.
“As it is with every game, we always like to get on the board first just so we’re not playing the chasing game because then you tend to get more frantic if you feel like you need to hurry up and get a goal,” senior midfielder Alyssa Delp said. “I think that anytime we have a game we want to score first so we’re not chasing and playing panicked. We just like to play relaxed so that we can play our own game.”
Delp tallied another score 16 minutes later on a penalty stroke goal to push the Owls’ advantage to 3-0.
In the 54th minute of the game, sophomore forward Rachel Mueller beat Lafayette’s goalie, pushing Temple’s lead to 4-0.
“We’ve been really working on getting numbers under the ball and not having so many 1-v-1’s,” junior midfielder Paige Gross said. “We’ve been really communicating and hustling under the ball so we can bump one player over to the other side and have more players under the ball. That comes from really great communication from our goalkeeper and our backfield, and I think that’s something we’ve been working.”
If the Owls win their last conference game, a matchup with Villanova Oct. 31, and Providence College loses its season finale against Old Dominion University Oct. 30, the team will be awarded the No. 2 seed at the Big East Tournament Nov. 6.
“[The team’s mentality] is focused,” Freeman said. “I’m really proud to say that it’s focused. I think this team has seen some adversity throughout the season. I think that we just need to play the style of hockey that we know we can play, which is what we’ve been able to exhibit in the past few games.”
Matt Cockayne can be reached via email at matt.cockayne@temple.edu and on twitter at mattcockayne55.
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