The Owls lost a road match-up to American Athletic Conference foe Memphis 3-0 on Thursday night.
“It’s very frustrating,” coach Seamus O’Connor said. “I think we’ve got to just press the issue a bit more. Teams have figured out what we do on defense and have taken advantage of it. They’ve clearly done their homework on us.”
With its shutout loss to Memphis (10-7,3-5), Temple (6-10-1,1-7) has now lost seven consecutive conference games and it has allowed two or more goals in five straight games. The defeat is also the Owls’ third shutout loss within the conference.
The Owls continue to lose the shot battle in conference play, being outshot by each of their eight conference opponents this season. Against Memphis, Temple recorded eight shots compared to the Tigers’ 17 shots.
Sophomore midfielder Kelly Farrell and sophomore defender Erin Lafferty registered the team’s two total shots on goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff recorded four saves on the day.
For Memphis, junior forward Nugene Nugent, senior midfielder Christabel Oduro, and freshman forward Valerie Sanderson each netted a goal. Freshman goalkeeper Maryse Bard-Martel recorded two saves on Temple’s two on goal shots and received the win.
Memphis struck early in the game, scoring all three goals in the first period.
“I take responsibility for [the points allowed in the first half],” O’Connor said. “I had the girls sit back and counter-attack and it wasn’t the best option. We just invited too much pressure. They were just way too good.”
Nugent netted the game’s first goal in the sixth minute, putting the Tigers ahead 1-0. Then Oduro added to the Memphis goal total in the 23rd minute, scoring the Tigers’ second goal of the day. Nearly eight minutes later, Sanderson capped off the unanswered scoring run with a goal of her own, for the 3-0 score that would hold for the rest of the game.
Brien Edwards can be reached at brien.erick.edwards@temple.edu or on Twitter @BErick1123.
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