Lacrosse Falls to No. 2 Florida on Senior Day

Saturday, April 22

Howarth Field

1:00 p.m.

Temple University

13-3, 6-2

Florida

14-2, 8-0

Florida

Temple

Photo by: Dave Fredman Frederick

Lacrosse Falls to No. 2 Florida on Senior Day

4.22.17 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

PHILADELPHIA - The biggest mismatch of the season in draw controls went against Temple lacrosse on a rainy Saturday afternoon as the Owls (13-3, 6-2) lost 15-5 to No. 2 Florida (14-2, 8-0) in their final home game of the year. The Gators picked up 19 draws to Temple's three, and raced out to a 6-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the contest before handing the Owls their only loss at Howarth Field in 2017.

"This is a very strong Florida team, and you have to be ready to play every minute of the game in order to beat them," said Temple head coach Bonnie Rosen. "I think today was a combination of us still not being able to execute at the highest level that we can play, and I certainly credit Florida in the way they play."

It was a day for the Owls' seniors, whose seven-member senior class was honored prior to the game, but the group still has at least two games left to play as Temple has already qualified for the upcoming BIG EAST Tournament.

"The best part about a Senior Day like it is this year is that our season is far from over," said Rosen. "As a coach I really don't think about things until they're over. I love the senior class like I love the rest of our players, and I will reflect back upon what each of them mean and what this class means when the season is over."

Senior Morgan Glassford scored two of the Owls' five goals, while senior Brooke Williams added a goal and an assist.

Florida's Sammi Burgess led all players with four goals, while Mollie Stevens and Madi Hall also notched hat tricks for the Gators with three goals each. It was a physical contest with 36 Florida fouls to Temple's 17, and three yellow cards on the Gators to the Owls' one. But Temple was forced into too many turnovers, giving up a number of chances to get the ball into their offensive end.

The Owls were scoreless until the final two minutes of the first half when Glassford finally got one to go with 1:44 left, but Florida took a 9-1 lead into the break.

Despite the first-half score, freshman goalkeeper Maryn Lowell was impressive for Temple with eight saves, and finished with 10 in the game before redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Kelsea Hershey came in for the final 19:26 and made four saves while allowing just two goals. Junior Nicole Latgis was also solid defensively, adding a game-high four ground balls to a caused turnover and a draw control.

Florida added four more goals to open the second half and take a 13-1 lead, but the Owls got hot at the end and outscored the Gators 4-2 the rest of the way. The freshman connection of Olivia Thompson from Meghan Hoffman got the Owls their second goal with 17:25 left. Glassford's second goal started a 3-0 closing run with five minutes left, with Williams and junior Kira Gensler adding goals in the final minutes.

"The one takeaway in a positive way from today's game is that I thought our defense continued to adjust and get better and better throughout the game," said Rosen. "We got some really nice play from our goalkeepers too so that's always great to see. To be able to slow down some of the scoring of this potent Florida offense is always a good thing."

The final game of the regular season will take Temple to UConn at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 29. The Owls will open play in the BIG EAST Tournament on Thursday, May 4 at Villanova, but seeding for the championship has yet to be determined.

"This game makes you walk away wanting more, and that's perfect timing for us right now with one game left in the regular season," commented Rosen. "Our game against UConn gives us an opportunity to potentially take care of some seeding but more importantly improve our game a little bit more, and that's really what we're going for. The biggest thing this game (today) does is it makes us realize the level at which we're going to want to play as we go down the stretch to give ourselves a chance to win a BIG EAST Championship and get ourselves to the NCAA Tournament - two goals that would be really amazing to achieve."