Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/12/17
From Press Release
In a thrilling 2017 season opener, Temple lacrosse got the best of Rutgers (0-1) in a 13-11 road win at High Point Solutions Stadium. Sophomore Amber Lambeth (Souderton) scored four goals to lead the Owls (1-0), while senior Brenda McDermott (North Penn) recorded a game-best six points with four assists to go with two goals.
Temple let a big early lead slip away, but later broke open an 11-11 tie by scoring the final two goals of the contest. It was Lambeth who scored the game-winner with 4:31 remaining, and senior Morgan Glassford (Strath Haven) added an insurance goal on a free-position opportunity just 16 seconds later.
“I’m thrilled,” said head coach Bonnie Rosen (Harriton) after the game. “I’m thrilled with how we played today, I’m thrilled with how we competed and of course with the outcome. This is a wonderful way to start the season. We were prepared for the game to be ugly and for things to go wrong from our end, the other team, officials, and I think that preparation was really important. We just dug deep and found a way and people stepped up in different moments. I don’t think we could ask for a better way to start.”
The four goals were the first four of Lambeth’s career, and she scored the third of those to record a hat trick with 12:32 remaining in the game. Senior Krissy Gallivan (Kennett) and junior Nicole Barretta (Downingtywon East) also tallied multiple goals for the Owls with two apiece.
After a long first possession, the Owls struck first when Gallivan scored on an assist from senior Carly Demato (Shawnee) late in the third minute and as the shot clock ran down.
Rutgers ran off two straight for a 2-1 lead after 12 minutes of action, but Temple then controlled the game for the next 12 minutes. The Owls scored five straight, starting just 12 seconds after the second Scarlet Knights goal as McDermott controlled the draw and then got one past RU goalkeeper Bianca Dente.
McDermott was involved in three straight goals, assisting on the first goal for Lambeth at 14:59 for a 3-2 Temple lead. McDermott then scored her second goal at 10:55. Freshman Olivia Thompson hit Gallivan with a perfect pass at 9:49 to give the Owls a 5-2 lead, and they made it a 6-2 lead at 5:44 when McDermott fed Barretta.
Rutgers began to get stronger on the draw, leading to three straight goals from 5:11 to 2:53 and narrowing Temple’s lead to just a single tally.
The last goal of the first half was Temple’s, as senior Brooke Williams scored on McDermott’s third assist of the game with 1:04 left. Glassford had a chance for one more with 25 seconds left, but it was saved by Rutgers and the Owls took a 7-5 lead into the break.
There was a flurry of scoring in the first 94 seconds of the second half, with Rutgers scoring first and then scoring again just nine seconds after an Anna Frederick goal for Temple. With 24 minutes left in the game, Rutgers tied it up at 8-8.
Lambeth scored twice in a 3-0 run that put Temple on top 11-8 with 12 and a half minutes left, but the Scarlet Knights answered with a 3-0 run of their own. The third Rutgers goal with eight minutes left tied the game at 11-11.
The Owls had two strong chances in the following minutes, with one shot by McDermott saved by Rutgers, and another shot going just wide for Lambeth. As they had much of the game, Temple continued to control possession for a majority of the time and it paid off in the final minutes with the two goals by Lambeth and Glassford.
Temple had gone 0-for-9 on free-position chances until Glassford made it 1-for-10 with the final goal of the game at 4:15. Freshman goalkeeper Maryn Lowell, who made three big saves for the Owls in 20 minutes of action, came up with the last of those on a free-position chance for Rutgers with 1:06 remaining.
Redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Kelsea Hershey started in goal for Temple, making two saves. Glassford finished strong all-around with a team-leading six ground balls and a team-leading four caused turnovers to go with three draw controls, while McDermott notched a game-high four draw controls.