Through 34 minutes of Temple’s game against No. 18 Liberty on Friday, both teams were dead even at one. Temple had been the punching bag against ranked teams in the past but had seemingly turned a corner keeping pace with one of the premier teams in the Big East.
The Owls earned a penalty corner and midfielder Tess Muller was given the chance to break the tie against the Flames. The Owls leader ripped a pass to back Alize Maes who put the ball in the back of the net to take the lead.
The floodgates were opened from there and Liberty had no response for Temple’s offensive attack. The Owls had been plagued with stagnant offense but those problems disappeared.
Midfielder Peyton Rieger chipped in with a goal of her own 26 seconds into the fourth quarter, and Temple added two more later in the quarter to cruise its way to its first win against Liberty since 2011.
Temple (6-4, 2-1 Big East Conference) upset No. 18 Liberty (5-5, 1-2 Big East Conference) 5-1 at Liberty Field Hockey Field on Friday afternoon. In the last week, the Owls have won three straight games against ranked teams for the first time in program history.
“I think each year looks a little bit different,” said head coach Michelle Vittese “Obviously, the story of this year is there’s going to be ups and downs. The bend and not break saga has been important. In each of those games, they know they’re in it. For them to be able to get the job done, I think is important.”
Temple instantly went on the attack, hoping to find the back of the net against Liberty goalkeeper Michaela Skinner. The Owls needed just four minutes to get on the scoreboard and Muller got the scoring started.
Muller scored the game-winning goal against then No. 20 Monmouth on Sept. 29 and followed it up with the opening goal in the fourth minute. She managed to get Skinner out of position and capitalized on Temple’s first shot of the game to take the early lead.
Temple continued to put Liberty on its heels searching to double the lead, but it never came to be. The Owls fired off four shots at Skinner but she was able to grab two saves to keep the Flames within one.
The Flames flipped a switch after the Owls’ goal and began to fire back to even the score. Liberty earned a penalty stroke six minutes after Temple’s opening goal following an official review after a shot by forward Martu Cian. Midfielder Reagan Underwood had a one-on-one opportunity with Temple goalkeeper Isabella Ospitale, and it was the Temple netminder who got the upper hand.
Ospitale dove to the right to stuff Underwood’s shot and keep the goal advantage. She finished the first half with two saves but the Flames eventually got the better of her. Liberty secured four consecutive penalty corners in the second quarter, and midfielder Josefina Tomasi found forward Tuti Dell Anna who put her shot home to level the score five minutes into the second quarter.
“I think one of the most key moments from a momentum perspective is obviously Bella [Ospitale] saving the stroke,” Vittese said. “ That changes the entire trajectory of a game. Had she not have made that save, I don’t know the outcome of the game, but it could just be a little different.”
Both teams ran in place for the rest of the first half, with neither team being able to attempt a single shot after Liberty’s goal to head into the locker room dead even at one.
Temple came out of the break and immediately mimicked its first-quarter performance. They needed just four minutes again to break the tie and Maes delivered the blow to put the Owls up by one.
The Owls put the clamps down from there and the Flames didn’t have room to breathe during the second half. They finished the first half with five shots on goal but were unable to get one for the entirety of the third quarter.
Once the fourth quarter started Temple had the stranglehold on the game and was searching for the knockout punch. Rieger delivered it barely a minute after the start of the fourth quarter, getting her shot past Skinner. Muller added her second goal to polish off the statement victory four minutes later.
Rieger secured her second goal of the game in the waning minutes to seal the deal for Temple’s fourth straight win.
“[Peyton Rieger] is getting very confident and comfortable with the ball,” Vittese said. “The goals that she is scoring are skill goals.”
Ospitale was once again the Owls’ backbone in the domination against the Flames, facing 19 shots all afternoon. The reigning Big East defensive player of the week allowed just one goal all game while stuffing eight Liberty shots, to hold them at bay while the offense went to work.
The Owls’ five goals are the most they have put home against a ranked team since defeating No. 15 Drexel on Sept. 16, 2012.
The Owls will take a break from conference play when they play Wagner (6-3, 2-0 Northeast Conference) on Oct. 6 at noon.
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