Temple Lacrosse falls short in final nonconference game of season

Temple lacrosse held Jacksonville University (5-2) to one goal in the second half, but the Owls’ first-half deficit was too much to overcome.

Temple (3-7) outscored Jacksonville 3-1 in the second half, but still fell 7-5 to the Dolphins on Saturday at Howarth Field.

Coach Bonnie Rosen said the team’s played better in the second half of games for most of the season.

“Our resolve, resilience and our aggressiveness seems to always put most of the teams on the defensive in the second half,” Rosen said. “If we can somehow generate that attitude, that mentality, that style of play, to start the game, I think it would be great. I think once we have a little bit of ‘not as much to lose’ feeling going on, we just get more aggressive.”

The Owls scored only two goals in the first half — making it the second time this season that Temple was limited to so few goals at the start of a game. On Feb. 16 against Princeton University, Temple scored two first-half goals and ultimately lost 16-7.

Three of Temple’s five goals came on free-position shots, a result of Jacksonville’s defensive style.

“We knew Jacksonville, based on scouting, that they were playing a zone [defense,]” said junior attacker Maddie Gebert. “We knew we could get them on three seconds. That was a lot of our plan for game today, was to capitalize on eight meters. That part worked well, but there were a lot of opportunities that we missed out on.”

Rosen decided to remove junior goalkeeper Maryn Lowell from the field for the final minute of play to have an extra position player in an attempt to score only down by two goals.

“We had the ball and we had an opportunity to move forward, so we put seven ball-handlers on the field instead of a goalie that one can’t shoot and isn’t allowed to score goals,” Rosen said. “We put a last minute play in that we haven’t actually worked on.”

Temple’s next game is at home against the University of Florida on March 30 at 12 p.m. Florida is currently ranked No. 17 in the nation and were picked in the preseason polls to win the American Athletic Conference.