Temple Women’s Soccer entered Sunday’s game against William & Mary almost a full calendar year removed since the last time they scored a goal. The last time the Owls found the back of the net was on Sept. 17, 2023 against Penn, where they emerged victorious by a single goal.
Temple looked to break its streak Friday against the Tribe, who defeated the Owls by four in the 2023 season opener on Aug. 17, 2023. The game had a chance to be a turning point for the Owls following a close loss against Iona on Thursday.
It didn’t take long to see that the losing streak wasn’t going to come to an end, as Temple’s hopes of revenge were quickly dashed after the Tribe scored within the first two minutes. William & Mary continued the onslaught, putting home five more goals and pushing the Owls’ losing streak to 13 games.
Temple (0-5, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) fell to William & Mary (3-2, 0-0 Coastal Athletic Association) 6-0 Sunday afternoon in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Owls haven’t been on the scoreboard in 350 days and are now sitting at a goal deficit of negative 17.
The Tribe needed just 78 seconds to make their mark when defender Molly Widderich found forward Ivey Crain for the opening score. The goal set the tone for what became the Owls’ largest loss of the season thus far, resulting in goalkeeper Tamsin Bynoe being benched 28 minutes into the game.
William & Mary doubled the lead six minutes later when forward Leah Iglesias got a ball past Bynoe. The score went from tied at zero to a two-goal Tribe lead in the blink of an eye.
The Owls’ offense sputtered while the Tribe’s flourished during the first half. Temple attempted just one shot in the half compared to William & Mary’s 15. Head coach Chris Shaw attempted to fuel a lifeless Temple unit with 10 substitutions but it didn’t amount to much.
Temple was only able to muster a single shot in the final 45 minutes, bringing its shot total to two with neither of them on goal. William & Mary went quiet before striking again in the 36th minute following midfielder Abby Mills’ goal, sending the Owls to the locker room trailing by three.
William & Mary didn’t miss a beat coming out of the locker room, striking less than three minutes into the second half. This time it was defender Kenley Campbell who helped the Tribe continue their dominance, and the Owls were never able to respond.
Two more shots went past goalkeeper Taylor Vecchione, which put the icing on the cake for the Tribe’s third straight victory.
The Owls faced 27 shots while putting up only two of their own across 90 minutes. The lone bright spot in the blowout was the goalkeeping, with Bynoe’s and Vecchione’s nine combined saves keeping the score from ballooning into a historic disaster.
The Owls will continue their road trip when they head to Syracuse, New York, to take on Le Moyne (1-5, 0-0 Northeast Conference) on Sept. 5 at 4 p.m.
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