Field Hockey Looks for a Signature Win Against #2 UConn

The Owl’s field hockey team has compiled a record of 3-8 this season, but six of those losses came against teams ranked in the Top 25.

Friday they square off against another ranked team in #2 ranked UConn, in what will be the toughest game of the season.

Temple is entering this contest looking to snap a four game losing streak as three of the losses came against ranked teams in #12 ranked Northwestern, #19 ranked James Madison, and #12 ranked Liberty.

Their latest game came against #12 Liberty and in that contest they lost a hard fought battle by a score of 3-2 in double overtime. It was their third straight loss by one goal.

The Owls will need seniors Alyssa Delp (nine goals) and Sarah Deck (six goals) to generate the offense and play their best games of the season and senior goalkeeper Haley Mitchell to be a wall in net if they want to upset the Huskies.

Upon comes into this contest ranked #2 in the country with an 11-0 record this season.  They were ranked #1 for most the season, but were overtaken by Syracuse in the latest rankings.

These two teams are the only two undefeated teams left in Division 1 this season.

The Huskies have been unstoppable this season as they have outscored their opponents 72-5 and have recorded a shutout in seven of their 11 games. Their last three wins have come by scores of 10-0, 10-0, and 8-0.

The only two close games they have played were a 3-2 win against #9 Stanford and a 2-1 win against #10 Boston College.

UConn comes into this contest ranked #1 in the country in categories like assists per game (5.00), goals per game (6.55), points per game (18.09), scoring average (6.55), scoring margin (6.09), save percentage (0.833), goals against average (0.45) and shutouts per game (0.64).

To have any chance in this game, the Owls will need to do their best in trying to contain UConn sophomore forward Charlotte Veitner. Veitner leads the country with 23 goals this season and is second in the country in goals per game at 2.09.

While containing Veitner is a huge challenge in its own right, Temple will need to find a way to beat Huskies sophomore goaltender Nina Klein who leads the country in goals against average (0.38) and save percentage (.840).

The game is scheduled for Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Geasey Field.