Temple Lacrosse was on the ropes early in the first quarter of its opening conference game against Vanderbilt. The Commodores quickly scored four unanswered goals to gain the upper hand and had all the momentum going into the second quarter.
The Owls found their spark in the second period, scoring five goals and sitting just one goal behind heading into the locker room at the half. Temple outscored Vanderbilt 5-2 in the second half, and the Commodores had no answer for the Owls’ offensive surge.
Temple (6-3, 1-0 American Athletic Conference) defeated Vanderbilt (5-3, 0-1 AAC) 10-8 at Howarth Field Saturday afternoon. This was the Owls’ second win this season against teams with a winning record.
“It was really clear to me that defensively we were doing a really nice job, and it was just a matter of continuing to learn how to play strong on the field,” said Temple head coach Bonnie Rosen. “It was really about two different adjustments of trying to figure out the draw a little bit, and we were getting good looks on the offensive end, but we weren’t able to finish it.”
Neither team had a quick start out of the gate, but Vanderbilt midfielder Brooke Baker scored a goal halfway through the first period to open the floodgates. Attacker Molly Krestinski found the back of the net twice in a two-minute span, while attacker Molly Finlay added another goal with a minute left in the quarter. Suddenly, Vanderbilt was up 4-0, and Temple was reeling.
Temple had only six shots in the first period, and Vanderbilt goalkeeper Lexie de Roziere saved five to hold the Owls scoreless through 15 minutes.
Midfielder Belle Mastropietro put the Owls on the scoreboard two minutes into the second period, attempting to turn the game around. However, Commodore midfielder Logan Risenhoover answered back to push the lead back up to four.
“We never once gave up,” said Temple attacker Julie Schickling. “We were pushing the entire time, even when we were down or tied.”
Temple couldn’t get past Vanderbilt’s defense until attacker Mackenzie Roth found an open Amelia Wright, who scored and cut the lead to just two. The goal gave Temple confidence to attempt more shots, and the team fired off 10 in the second period.
The Owls scored two more times in the final three minutes of the half, including a goal by Mastropietro to complete a hat-trick and another from Schickling, and Temple was down just 6-5 with half an hour to play.
“Obviously, the score showed a lot, but we knew what we were capable of,” Schickling said. “We really just tried to dig in. We knew we could get back up there. We just took one goal at a time.”
Temple locked in on both sides of the ball coming out of the locker room. The Owls scored two goals to make it four unanswered since the second quarter, taking their first lead of the game. Commodores were denied any goals in the third period. Vanderbilt never even attempted a shot in the third quarter, while Temple took seven.
“I thought we did a really good job handling the overall flow of the game,” Rosen said. “The game gets physical at times, and I think we both played through that physicality and also kept our emotions in check.”
Schickling extended the Owls’ lead to two with two fourth-quarter goals, while securing a hat-trick in the process. Vanderbilt scored for the first time in the second half on two free-position shots with just under eight minutes remaining in the game.
The Commodores got on the board again with a goal four minutes later, but the outcome was never in doubt. Temple midfielder Erin King scored the final goal of the game to put the finishing touches on the Owls’ first conference win.
Temple will look to win its third game in its last four on the road against East Carolina (3-5, 0-1 AAC) in Greeneville, North Carolina, on March 23 at noon.
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