Two conference games, two wins.
In its second Big East Conference game — the first at home — No. 17 Temple beat Rutgers 2-1 in yet another come from behind win.
Rutgers freshman back Sofia Walia scored on a penalty corner within the first ten minutes of the game to put the Owls down 1-0.
But behind two goals from freshman forward Katie Foran, with the game-winner coming in the second half, Temple came back and improved to 7-2 on the year.
Friday afternoon was the fourth time this season that Temple has come back and won after their opponents had at least a one goal lead, having already done the same to Ohio State on Aug. 31, Richmond on Sept. 8 and Longwood last weekend .
“There is a lot of confidence that is involved in it,” coach Amanda Janney said. “The team works hard, they never give up and they just give their 100 percent all the time.”
“I know we’re going to get 70 minutes out of our players ,” Janney added. “They’ve worked really hard to be fit and faster than other teams and it pays off in the second half for us.”
Foran has already gotten playing time this season, but Saturday’s game was a big one for her.
With junior forward Amber Youtz out with an arm injury, the other forwards had to step up. Foran helped to do just that.
She tied the game at one 14 minutes into the first half. Then, two and a half minutes into the second half, Foran redirected a shot by senior forward Lauren Hunt to make it 2-1.
Hunt also had the assist on Foran’s first goal.
“Our team played really well together and everyone just came out strong and gave it their all,” Foran said. “I think everyone just wanted to step up and play hard for Amber and the rest of the team so that we could keep doing as good as we’ve been doing.”
Temple had gotten the lead, but they had to defend it with over 32 minutes left to play.
They let Rutgers get just one shot for entire half and sophomore defender Taylor Shronk made a game saving play.
With 12:30 left, redshirt junior goalkeeper Lizzy Millen was caught at the opposite side of the net, away from the ball.
Rutgers was left with a wide open shot, but Shronk was able to reach out with her stick and stop the ball from going in the cage. The ball was moving fast, but the reaction was even faster.
“[The play] was very quick and [the ball] was coming fast,” Shronk said. “They did a nice job of sending it across but all of our defensive people were in position, so it made it really easy to stop it and then clear it out wide.”
Rutgers got one more chance to tie it with 2:39 left via a penalty corner, but freshman midfielder Ashpal Kaur Bhogal sent in a weak pass and Temple jumped on it to get possession back.
Temple is now 2-0 in conference play and will face its next Big East opponent in Kentucky when the team travels to Louisville on Oct. 4.
First, the Owls have to play Sacred Heart on Sunday afternoon. Sophomore forward Tricia Light got the start on Friday and after a great performance Foran will likely be in the starting lineup on Sunday.
“All the forwards have been working hard to earn a starting position and Tricia earned it today,” Janney said. “I think Katie earned it for Sunday.”
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