Field Hockey Edged 2-1 at Crosstown Rival Saint Joseph's

Sunday, August 28

Philadelphia, Pa.

3:00 p.m.

Temple University

(0-2)

Saint Joseph's

(1-1)

Temple

Saint Joseph's

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Field Hockey Edged 2-1 at Crosstown Rival Saint Joseph's

8.28.16 | Field Hockey

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

PHILADELPHIA (Saint Joseph's) - Despite dominating on the offensive end in the second half, Temple field hockey was unable to come up with the equalizer it needed after trailing at halftime, and the Owls lost 2-1 to their crosstown rival Saint Joseph's (1-1). The game was the last of four in the 2016 Conference Cup Tournament, and the Owls now stand at 0-2 after the opening weekend of the season.

Temple tied the game just seven minutes after the Hawks scored the first goal midway through the first half, but Saint Joseph's pulled ahead with four minutes to go in the opening period and that score stood through to the end of the game.

"I am happy with how we rebounded from Friday's game," said Temple head coach Marybeth Freeman. "We're a younger team and we have a lot of lessons to learn, but I was happy to see how we bounced back in the second half and how we faced adversity. We actually got 10 corners in the second half. Obviously we weren't able to capitalize. There were some things that were out of our control today and that's unfortunate but that's how the game goes sometimes. For us, it's really about how we handle situations under pressure, and that was a good learning tool for us today."

Temple's freshman goalkeeper Maddie Lilliock followed up Friday's impressive nine-save performance with six more on Sunday, while freshman Becky Gerhart came up with a defensive save for the Owls in the second half.

The Hawks earned opportunities early on penalty corners, and after 15 scoreless minutes, they made one count with 19:07 left in the half. Courtney Gerber, who inserted the ball for the corner, collected a rebound on a shot and save and sent it past the outstretched Lilliock for a 1-0 lead.

Seven minutes later, the Owls tied the score when redshirt sophomore Maris Stern scored on her own rebound to put Temple on the board.

Saint Joseph's finished the half with seven corners compared to zero for the Owls, and converted on one of those with four minutes left when Anna Willocks put the ball into the right corner.

The Owls picked up the pace on offense early in the second half, earning three penalty corners in a row. Redshirt junior Sarah Keer took all three eventual shots on those corners, with two going just wide and a third hitting the crossbar.

Five of Temple's 10 second-half corners were earned in the final 10 minutes as the Owls furiously battled to tie the score. Victoria Kammerinke made a pair of saves for Saint Joseph's on the first two of those corners, and the Owls weren't able to get a shot on goal in the final three. Overall in the second half, Temple out-shot the Hawks 11-5 along with earning a 10-5 advantage in corners.

"This isn't our season, it was just two games, and we played against the second-ranked team in the country (on Friday)," said Freeman. "We knew our crosstown rival Saint Joe's was going to be another tough match-up. But these are lessons, and these are fantastic lessons for our team to learn. Two games don't define us. It's not how you start, it's how you finish, and I think we'll be able to take these lessons and apply them to our next game."

That next game will be Temple's home opener at Howarth Field, as the Owls host #18 Penn State at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2.