Temple went into halftime against Tulsa Sunday afternoon with much-needed momentum. The Owls lost their last two games against Penn and North Texas by a combined score of 10-0 and were outshot 49-5.
Temple looked reinvigorated at the beginning of Sunday’s game, netting the first points behind midfielder Yao Zhao’s 17th-minute goal. Tulsa was quick to respond with two goals in eight minutes before Temple managed to tie the game just before halftime.
Both teams were looking for a spark coming out of the locker room and it was Tulsa that found it.
Tulsa forward Blaine Schutte beat goalkeeper Tamsin Bynoe to secure herself a brace and gave the Golden Hurricane a 3-2 advantage. Temple’s offense was unable to replicate its opening half performance, instead reverting back to its old form for the remaining 39 minutes to drop its third straight game.
Temple (2-10-0, 0-3-0 American Athletic Conference) fell to Tulsa (5-5-2, 1-2-0 AAC) 3-2 Sunday afternoon at the Temple Sports Complex. The loss extends Temple’s conference losing streak to 23 games.
“I thought we got out to a great start but in the second half I feel like we just ran out of gas,” said head coach Chris Shaw. “Tulsa made a lot more subs than we did and we’ve got some injuries and I thought that was the biggest thing. We just petered out in the final 30 minutes. They were on the front foot and we were on the back foot.”
The Owls have struggled to find offense all season but came out firing to start the game. Temple continuously put pressure on Tulsa goalkeeper Tatum Sanders, needing just five minutes to get the first shot. Sanders was challenged again six minutes later when the Owls earned a corner kick and nearly allowed the opening goal. The ball rolled around with Sanders out of position but she repositioned herself in time to stop midfielder Carly Steinberg’s shot.
Temple’s shooting barrage finally paid off and the Owls broke through when Zhou got the ball past Sanders to give Temple an early lead. The lead lasted for all of two minutes when Bynoe let up a shot from forward Leah Diaz and the score was tied in a flash. Bynoe didn’t travel with the team for its 6-0 loss to North Texas on Sept. 26 and saved the first shot she faced in her return but was unable to make the second to keep the lead.
Tulsa kept the heat on Bynoe and they snatched the lead eight minutes later. The Golden Hurricane were awarded a free kick and midfielder Maggie SymSmith delivered a dart to forward Blaine Schutte. Schutte put a header over the outstretched arm of Bynoe to give Tulsa a 2-1 lead.
The offensive flurry settled down for the next 20 minutes, despite Temple repeatedly applying pressure Sanders became a brick wall and didn’t allow anything past her. Forward Shari Atkins gave the Owls the boost they needed with two minutes until halftime. She squeezed her shot between the legs of Sanders to head into the locker room knotted up at two.
“We seem to be two different teams at home versus on the road,” Shaw said. “We need to figure out how to bottle up the home performance and take it on the road with us.”
The first half gave off the impression that the Owls’ offensive fog had lifted. Temple netted two first-half goals and had 12 shots. However, Tulsa traded punches, finding the back of the net twice despite having half the shots as Temple.
The Owls’ offense reverted to its old ways in the second half and was held in check. Temple could not find the equalizer and only managed to fire off four shots in the second half. Tulsa only had five shots in the second half but was able to get the winning goal past Bynoe.
“We just can’t play scared and we have to go right at them,” Atkins said. “All of our opponents are really good, but when we put them under pressure they don’t expect it and we do better.”
Temple had one last chance to tie the game with less than two minutes remaining, but they couldn’t convert. Defender Phoebe Hollin was fouled and given a free kick from just outside the box. The shot deflected off a defender’s leg and all but sealed the Owls’ fate.
Overall, the Golden Hurricane had 11 total shots and Bynoe made three saves. The Owls’ offense had 16 shots with 10 coming on goal. Sanders stepped up for the Golden Hurricane, making eight saves and holding the Owls at bay after constant pressure in the first half.
Temple will continue to search for its first conference win as they travel to Texas to take on Rice (8-2-1, 2-1-0 AAC) on Oct. 3 at 7 p.m.
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