Entering its contest against Delaware, Temple Lacrosse had outscored its opponents by 18 goals in the first two quarters.
The Owls only held a mere one-point lead after the first 15 minutes of play against the Blue Hens Wednesday.
Then, the floodgates opened. Attacker Julie Schickling got the Owls on the board first in the second quarter, finding the back of the net in just 36 seconds. They scored five goals in the second quarter and cruised to their fourth win of the year.
Temple (4-0, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) beat Delaware (3-1, 0-0 Coastal Athletic Association) 13-8 Wednesday afternoon at Howarth Field. The Owls have started the season with four straight wins for the first time since 2013.
“It’s so helpful to start strong, to play well and to feel like we have a game that we’re in control of heading into halftime,” said Temple head coach Bonnie Rosen. “We’re looking forward to continuing to do that as much as we can.”
Defender Katie Shallow went into the game tied with Shelly Wosczyna for the program record in caused turnovers. Shallow earned her first turnover three minutes into the game and broke the tie, now sitting at 103 in her career.
Both teams started the game aggressively. Temple attacker Mackenzie Roth kept control of the ball to score the first goal, and goalkeeper Taylor Grollman saved a free-position attempt to maintain Temple’s lead midway through the quarter.
Schickling opened up the second quarter with a goal, giving Temple momentum the rest of the way. Midfielder Erin King and attacker Amelia Wright found the back of the net and turned the game into a 4-0 blowout in the blink of an eye.
“We just knew that the plan that we had was working,” Wright said. “The confidence of everything that we worked on all week was working, and the confidence in each other has really helped us.”
Delaware midfielder Keira Grant scored six minutes before halftime to inch the Blue Hens closer, but the Owls immediately answered with defender Maddie Barber’s first goal of the season.
Grant found the back of the net one more time, but midfielder Belle Mastropietro’s answer just a minute later sent Temple into the locker room up 6-2.
Grollman was crucial to Temple’s defense early on. She allowed just two goals in the first half, and six of her nine saves occurred in the initial two quarters.
Both teams traded goals early in the second half. Delaware earned five free-position attempts in the third quarter, but the Owls still outscored the Blue Hens 4-3, taking a five-goal lead into the final quarter.
“I think we handled it like we always do against Delaware,” Wright said. “We know that they’re gonna come out hard at us, and we try our best to do the same. We were just working hard and trying to meet their aggression.”
Grant opened the scoring in the fourth to cut the Blue Hens’ deficit to four. Both teams continued trading goals, and Wright found the net one last time with three seconds remaining to close out the win.
“I was really happy with how we generally handled physicality on the field and handled where we turned balls over and just responded well,” Rosen said. “I think we managed to keep figuring out the game under those conditions.”
Temple will look to carry its momentum against No. 21 Yale (2-0, 0-0 Ivy League) at Howarth Field on Feb. 24 at noon.
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