After leading for the first 30 minutes Saturday, William and Mary fell in a disappointing Homecoming loss to No. 16 Temple, 4-1.
Hope for a Homecoming victory was high throughout the fast-paced first period. However, expectations fell as the second period advanced and Temple tallied four unanswered goals.
Following freshman midfielder Emma MacLeod’s shot on goal, sophomore forward Maria Pastor scored on the rebound only 21 seconds into the game. This early attack on the Temple zone proved to be the only fruitful one of the game.
The College held the lead for the majority of the first period until Owl forward Amber Youtz tied the game with an unassisted goal after driving through the College’s defense at the 30:29 mark in the first period.
Both Pastor and head coach Tess Ellis referenced that goal as a turning point in the Tribe’s morale.
“I think we came out really strong,” Pastor said. “Obviously, we scored in the first two minutes, but then we definitely broke down once they scored a goal. When we were tied … we just didn’t really connect as a team so I think that got the best of us.”
Each team vied for the lead for the first few minutes of the second period. Temple, however, was able to earn the upper hand nearly four minutes into the period when the ball deflected off of a Tribe stick and into its own goal.
“I think the panic set in when they tied it and when we’re already struggling with our basic skills, which is hard to tell because it took us less than 20 odd seconds to score our first goal,” Ellis said. “I think the girls just thought, ‘We’re on, we’re going to make this really easy today,’ and I think they might have shut their brains off and then once we started making those mistakes a few people just went within themselves and that really hurt us as a team.”
Forty-two minutes into the game Youtz scored again for the Owls off of a corner, making it a 3-1 Temple lead. Youtz headed into Saturday’s game at the top of Temples’ roster with 19 goals and three assists — her second goal of the day marked her 21st of the season.
By the time the Tribe finally acquired a corner opportunity, it was unable to find the inside of the net. With six minutes remaining, Owl forward Sarah Keer scored another goal, topping off the final score at 4-1.
Ellis identified a few key moments that led to Temple’s scoring opportunities.
“Today we made too many mistakes,” Ellis said. “We had a deflection off our stick, they scored a goal, we passed a ball to them in front of cage, [they] scored a goal. … We allowed the number one player [Youtz,] … we let her walk into the circle and take our goalie on.”
Overall, however, the Tribe narrowly outshot Temple 12-11. Defensively, junior goalkeeper Meredith Savage allowed four goals and recorded five saves.
“No excuses. [It was a] great job by Temple because they stuck to their game plan,” Ellis said. “We had a game plan and our basic skills didn’t allow us to stick to it.”
Having faced the No. 3, 4 and 11 teams in the nation, the Tribe’s schedule won’t get any easier in conference play. The College travels to Virginia Commonwealth Friday for a 6:30 p.m. start before hosting Colonial Athletic Association opponent Drexel Sunday at noon.
