Women's Soccer Battles La Salle To 0-0 Draw On Senior Day

Sunday, October 28

Ambler, Pa.

11:00 a.m.

Temple University

5-12-3,(2-6-1, A-10)

La Salle

14-4-1,(8-0-1, A-10)

OT 3

OT 4

La Salle

Temple

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Women's Soccer Battles La Salle To 0-0 Draw On Senior Day

10.28.12 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

AMBLER – Taking on city-rival La Salle in its final game as an Atlantic 10 Conference member, in what was also Temple Women's Soccer's Senior Day, the Owls closed out its 2012 campaign with a scoreless, 0-0, draw on Sunday.

The season wrapped up for the Owls with arguably the most entertaining match of the season, as this game contained all the energy and intensity associated with an inner-city rivalry.

Playing with nothing to lose, Temple demonstrated a valiant effort against a La Salle team that came in undefeated in its last 17 A-10 games and was in pursuit of nabbing sole possession of the regular season conference title.

La Salle (14-4-1, 8-0-1) controlled possession for the majority of the contest, with Temple getting occasional opportunities.

The Explorers outshot the Owls by a staggering count of 38-8 for the match.

Making her season debut and getting her final start of her career, senior Gillian Kacsuta played the first half in between the goal posts for the Owls, where she had an outstanding effort. In her allotted 45 minutes, Kacsuta stopped all five shots that were directed her way.

Also closing out her career in a Cherry & White uniform, redshirt senior Tara Murphy took over guarding the net in the second half, where she made stops on all 10 Explorer shots lunged at her. Murphy played the remaining 65 minutes of the match, helping her to increase her career save total to 227, which is fourth-most in program history. Murphy finished the season with 82 saves, which gave her a new career-high.

Kacsuta and Murphy together picked up Temple's seventh shutout of 2012, which placed the team one shy of matching the program record set during the program's inaugural season, back in 1991.

In the 81st minute, Temple nearly shocked the Explorers and everyone in attendance when freshman Paula Jurewicz fired a bullet from the top of the box, drilling it low straight at Explorer keeper Gabrielle Pakhtigian.

La Salle had its share of chances that had Temple and its fans holding their breath. Setting a game-high with nine shots, junior Renee Washington set the tone of the Explorers' attack in both halves. In the 19^th minute, she ripped a shot from long range that rammed to the top-right corner of the crossbar. Trying to swing the momentum quickly in the second half, she nailed a header, but wisped past Murphy, sailing wide.

Prior to Sunday's match, which kicked off two hours early as a precaution to get the game in to avoid the start of Hurricane Sandy, Temple Athletics honored all eight seniors for their commitment to the women's soccer program during their time at Temple University.

Joining Kacsuta and Murphy being honored, Jourdan Brill, Casey Greco, Gabby Lopez, Morgyn Seigfried, Brittany Wollner and Kate Yurkovic were all recognized during a brief ceremony,

La Salle wins the A-10 regular season title and clinches the No. 1 overall seed for the conference tournament, which begins Wednesday, while Temple wraps up its second season under Matt Gwilliam and staff with a 5-12-3 overall record and a 2-6-0 mark in the program's final go-around in the A-10.

The Owls now prepare for their inaugural season in the BIG EAST.