The Owls made the trip to Florida to take on the no. 2 team in the country for the first Big East matchup of the season. Temple came up just a little short and could not pull off the upset. The Owls will have a long trip back to Philly with a 10-9 tough loss on their minds, but not exactly in a bad way. Head Coach Bonnie Rosen explains, “We are disappointed, but in a really good way…it was a really well-played team game and a great step for us as a program.”
Florida may have scored more goals, but Temple was far more efficient. The Owls had nine goals and only took fifteen shots. The Gators shot a total of twenty-one shots and only had ten goals. However, turnovers were not in Temple’s favor. Florida caused six Owl turnovers, the Owls tallied eleven turnovers over all.
Kirstie Connor led all scorers with a hat trick. Temple’s Brenda McDermott contributed two goals as well. Temple had a total of six players add to the offense. Ultimately it was not enough. Even though the Owls were outscored, they held the Gators to three less goals than their average.
It was a back and forth game all the way until the final seconds of the game. Temple was able to compete because they caused Florida to alter their game plan, and the Owls were not faltered by the Gators style of play, “…we stayed focused and stuck to our game plan, and that allowed us to stay grounded and play a solid game,” Rosen says.
Temple’s Big East record begins 0-1, but the Owls are now 8-3 overall. They take on Vanderbilt on April 9th.
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