Temple Rally isn’t Enough to Beat Monmouth

WRITTEN BY: JACOB GUZDEK

After a close overtime loss against Providence just two days earlier, Temple fought back again, this time against the Monmouth Hawks. In a state of déjà vu, the Owls fell short to the Hawks in a 3-2 loss.

“We don’t want to get back in games, we want to set the tone,” Temple head coach Marybeth Freeman said. “We’ve done a good job of making adjustments this week, now we just need to pay more attention to the details.”

After a scoreless first half, both teams’ offenses came out firing in the second, combining to score four goals in the first 11 minutes of the half.

Monmouth got on the board first about two minutes into the half by generating a penalty corner right after Temple senior back Ali Meszaros got sent off on a green card. Thanks to the corner, Hawks junior back Julie Laszlo was able to fire home a shot from the top of the circle to give Monmouth a 1-0 lead.

Just over a minute later, the Owls took advantage on their own penalty corner, as junior forward Hattie Kuhns fired a shot from the top of the circle. The shot was then deflected by junior midfielder Rachel Mueller, subsequently flying into the back of the net to tie the game.

The Hawks’ offense put the pressure right back on, though, generating two more penalty corners before junior forward Meg Donahue made a great run all the way from midfield into the circle. Donahue fired a shot past Temple freshman goalkeeper Maddie Lilliock to give Monmouth a 2-1 lead.

Yet again, Temple fought back to erase the deficit, as the Owls took advantage of another penalty corner. This time it was Kuhns who found the back of the net off a shot from the top of the circle, tying the game at two.

“We had a lot of energy coming out of halftime and we just needed to keep chipping away,” Kuhns said. “They were getting frustrated with us and we knew if we just kept chipping away, the goals would come.”

In the minutes after Kuhns’ goal, Lilliock made save after save to keep the score tied. However, with about 10 minutes remaining in the contest, Monmouth was awarded a penalty stroke. Donahue took advantage of the opportunity, burying it home for her second goal of the game.

Temple generated four more penalty corners in the final seven minutes, but the Owls weren’t able to score the game-tying goal.

With Sunday’s loss, the Owls fall to 1-7 on the season.

“I’m not concerned with what other people think of our record,” Freeman said. “I care about what this team thinks and I care about implementing the things we know to be true to benefit us throughout the season.”

The Owls will be back in action Friday as they travel to Connecticut to take on the #5 ranked Huskies.