Temple University lacrosse scored seven goals in the second half, but it still was not enough to win against Rutgers University (2-0).
Temple (1-1) led 11-8 in the second half but Rutgers went on a 5-0 run in the final 12 minutes to win 13-11 at Howarth Field Wednesday afternoon.
The game went back and forth. The Owls dropped passes, missed ground balls and lost open cutters running open near the goal.
The Owls offense started off slow, scoring four goals in the first half. The team missed opportunities on goal and the Owls need to focus on their shot selection, senior attacker Maddie Gebert said.
“It’s incredibly important to take good shots especially with the shot clock being 90 seconds,” Gebert said.
The offense played better in the second half. The Owls started the second half on a 5-0 run.
The offense had various contributors, with nine players scoring at least one goal. Freshman midfielder Belle Mastropietro and senior midfielder Jen Rodzewich scored two times during the game.
The Owls offense was productive, but the Scarlet Knights found a way to score more goals as they came back from a three-goal deficit.
Freshman midfielder Cassidy Spilis had a four-goal performance to lead the Scarlet Knights. Junior attacker Taralyn Naslonski finished with three goals and two assists. Redshirt-senior midfielder Dakota Pastore contributed two goals.
The Rutgers offense found ways to break down the defense. They found openings and took advantage of them. The Owls defense is still learning how to shift into one of the zones they play and Rutgers took advantage of it, coach Bonnie Rosen said.
“Some of the goals Rutgers scored today were opportunities of basic things we need to close down,” Rosen said. “We are still learning how to shift into the zones we played today and Rutgers did a nice job of taking advantage of it.”
Rosen said she was not discouraged. She saw her team play aggressively and she expects her team to improve as the season goes on.
“Right now with the start of the season our expectations are we are going to make mistakes,”
Rosen said. “Those mistakes will get cleaned up if we stay assertive in everything we do.”
Next, Temple will play Princeton University at Howarth Field on Saturday at 1 p.m. Princeton is currently ranked fifth in the NCAA women’s lacrosse rankings.
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