Temple’s first season under head coach Chris Shaw has been filled with growing pains. The Owls started the year 0-5 but looked as if they had flipped a switch with a four-game scoring streak, including a win against Navy on Sept. 15. They aimed to take another step forward when they traveled to face Penn.
Instead, the Owls stumbled backward and the Quakers cruised past them. Penn racked up four goals and held the Owls’ offense at bay, as Temple mustered just three shots all game.
Temple (2-8, 0-1 American Athletic Conference) was bested by Penn (1-5-3, 0-0 Ivy League) 4-0 Sunday afternoon at Rhodes Field. A week after Temple netminder Tasmine Bynoe secured her third career shutout, she was bombarded by the Quakers and allowed three goals.
The Quaker duo of forwards Lily White and Magali Capdevial set the tone early with two first-half goals to give Penn a stranglehold on the game. The Quakers never let up, finishing the game with eight shots on goal and 10 corner kicks. The Temple offense did not come close to matching Penn’s output and the Owls were left in the dust.
Penn, who entered the game winless, fell to Temple in last season’s clash on Sept. 17, 2022, but came out firing on all cylinders on Sunday. White got the best of Bynoe in the 18th minute and Capdevial followed it up with a goal of her own eight minutes later.
Temple was unable to counter back with only a single shot to its name in the first 45 minutes. Midfielder Carly Steinberg fired off a desperation shot in the final 30 seconds before halftime, but it caught nothing but air.
The offensive struggles are nothing new for Temple. Despite scoring a goal in the last four games, it took Temple six games to find the back of the net. The Owls’ lone shot on goal came from Temple defender Phoebe Hollin in the 85th minute, which was snatched up by Penn goalkeeper Annabel Austen.
The Owls needed any source of life to claw their way out of the two-point hole. Despite their best efforts, Temple continued to dig its own grave. Penn midfielder Avery Chapel got in on the action when she finessed the ball past Bynoe in the 71st minute to extend the lead to three.
Shaw yanked Bynoe in favor of Taylor Vecchione, in an attempt to turn around the Owls’ fortunes. Vecchione recorded two saves before she was beaten by Penn forward Abbey Cook to put the Quakers up 4-0 in the 87th minute.
Temple’s performance, the first loss Temple has suffered against Penn in nearly five years, leaves more questions than answers. The Owls now shift their focus to conference play, where they haven’t won a game since defeating Houston on Oct. 17, 2021
The Owls will return to conference play after a two-game break when they travel to Denton, Texas, to take on North Texas (6-2-2, 2-0 AAC) on Sept. 26 at 7 p.m.
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