PHILADELPHIA-
When senior midfielder Elana Falcone scored off of a deflection at the 4:10 mark to start the match, it seemed as though the Owl’s had already won.
Temple played the winless Delaware State University (DSU) Hornets Sunday at the Temple Sports Complex. The game went the Owl’s way, as they ended up winning 8-0 with seven different players scoring. This was Temple’s third win in the past four games and their third straight shutout as well.
“This game was important for us, we knew that we had the upper hand in this game,” Falcone commented. “We knew that we wanted to just stick to our own game plan and not play their game at all.”
Even before the match began it felt like DSU was overmatched. They were 0-8 coming into the match and have only scored one goal all year and have only taken 44 shots all year, including the shots taken in their matchup against the Owls. Temple on the other hand has scored 17 goals all year and has taken 133 shots.
The Owls had no trouble creating chances for themselves as the ball was always on the Hornet’s end. Of the 24 shots taken, a staggering 18 of those shots were on net, that’s a 75%.
“I think today that was the demand, I didn’t give them any scout on anybody,” coach Seamus O’Connor said. “I just told them you’ve got to focus on yourself and do your job and once we did that then the opportunities and goals came.”
Temple scored its first three goals within the first 15 minutes and was up 5-0 at halftime. Almost every player got into the game for the Owls and junior goalkeeper Jordan Nash played the second half while sophomore goalkeeper Morgan Basileo played in the first half. Neither goalie was challenged.
Graduate student and forward, Morgan Glassford, added on, “How we started out was so important. Sometimes we’ll be in a 0-0 game and not a lot of subs will come in, so just knowing that we have so many players who can score off the bench is vital. It was awesome today.”
This is also the third straight game where the Owl’s have not given up a goal. The amount of shots that their opponents have had during this streak has declined each game as well. Basileo had the first two shutouts while she and Nash split the game today. “This streak has given us more confidence in what we are doing. Knowing that we are hard to score on has made us a very difficult team to play against,” O’Connor said. “Teams who play us know they will have to work hard to try to score on us and that usually leaves them open to one of our quick counter attacks where we can take advantage of our speed to get a shot on goal.”
The Owls will look to continue their hot streak Saturday September 23rd, when they travel to New Britain to face off against the 3-5 Central Connecticut State Blue Devils.
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