PHILADELPHIA, Pa. 3/17/2012 – The Temple Owls women’s lacrosse team looked for a bounce back win. The Owls had lost two in a row on their Florida trip. In the game against the Delaware Blue Hens at Geasey Field, the Owls had to bounce back within the game overcoming a three goal deficit to win 11 – 9 snapping the losing streak. Temple Coach Bonnie Rosen felt her team needed to show resiliency to win and did.
“After two losses we came in hungry for a win,” said Rosen. “We knew Delaware would be tough. We ended up in a battle we thought we would be in, and I am proud of the fact we gutted it out.”
“It is a resilient group that is learing how to battle back. This was an important test for us because this was more who we were earlier in the season in not letting things get us down. Delaware had us on the ropes, but we responded well.”
“The test today was in-game and we found a way to get it done.”
Temple entered the game with a 5 – 2 record. The two losses were on their recent trip to Florida losing to Jacksonville and to the Florida Gators. In this game the Cherry and White trailed most of the first half, and went into halftime behind by a 5 – 4 score. Delaware scored the first two goals of the second half to lead 7 – 4 with 28:17 on the clock. The Owls started their comeback getting two goals from Junior Midfielder Charlotte Swavola, a score from Senior Midfielder Karly Cohen, then a free position goal from Senior Midfielder Missy Schweitzer put Temple in front 8 – 7 with 17:25 to play. Temple had three opportunities to score in close, but were turned away by Delaware Goal Keeper Alex Zagura. Then Blue Hens Midfielder Allison Hahn scored to give her team a 9 – 8 lead. Despite all the events going against them Temple seemed to put the frustration behind them, and built winning momentum.
“When we don’t score offensively, we’re still learning how to deal with that,” Rosen said. “To regain our composure was get draw controls and find goals was important. We were patient not just tough.”
A goal by Swavola, her third of the game, tied it at the 11:30 mark, and that was followed by a free position goal by Sophomore Attack Jaymie Tabor gave the Owls a 10 – 9 lead they never relinquished. Schweitzer scored her second of the game putting the ball into an open net with 1:21 to play.
Another factor in the Temple win was cutting down on second half turnovers. Temple had 10 in the first half, but committed only 5 miscues in the second. The Owls out shot the Blue Hens 25 – 18, 15 – 7 in the second half. Temple had 6 free position shots converting 6 while Delaware was good on only 1 of 3 from 8 meters away.
Cohen registered 3 goals in the game for the Cherry and White. Junior midfielder Stephany Parcell scored a goal as she has 17 for the season to lead the team. Parcell added an assist Senior Goal Keeper Tess Bishop got the win playing all 60 minutes facing 18 shots on goal. Senior midfielder Stephanie Markunas had 4 Draw Controls as Temple had a 15 – 8 advantage in that key statistic.
For Delaware Attack Chelsea Fay scored 4 goals, Midfielder Caitlin McCarthy added 2 goals. Midfielder Allison Hahn, Attack Abbie Hartman, and Attack Blair King added a goal apiece for the Blue Hens. Goal Keeper Zagura played 48:30 giving up 9 goals and saved 6. Tori Zorovich suffered the loss giving up a goal and making 1 save.
Temple showed resiliency and toughness upping their record to 6 – 2. The Owls also showed the ability to learn from their mistakes.
“It showed when it started to get close,” said Markunas. “We never had the mentality that ‘we’re down’ and we were going to win this game. There was never a doubt in anybody’s mind. Even if the score is not going our way, we’re
still up.”
Written By: Glenn Papazian
The story can be found on Twitter @Phillycolsports
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