Amber Youtz's Hat Trick Leads #16 Temple Field Hockey Past Georgetown, 4-0

Friday, October 24

Washington, D.C.

1 p.m.

Temple University

(12-5, 3-1BIG EAST)

Georgetown

(5-10, 0-4BIG EAST)

Temple

Georgetown

Photo by: Ken Light

Amber Youtz's Hat Trick Leads #16 Temple Field Hockey Past Georgetown, 4-0

10.24.14 | Field Hockey

Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. - With her fourth hat trick of the season and eighth of her career, Temple field hockey's Amber Youtz led the 16th-ranked Owls to a 4-0 win at Georgetown (5-10, 0-4) on Friday afternoon. Temple (12-5, 3-1) exploded with three goals in a five-minute span during the second half, and the Owls have now clinched a berth in the four-team BIG EAST Conference Tournament.

Temple has just one conference game remaining, against defending NCAA and BIG EAST champion UConn on Saturday, Nov. 1. The Owls will play one more contest before that, hosting Lafayette on Sunday, Oct. 26 at 1:00 p.m.

Offensively, the Owls dominated the game from start to finish. Temple's 19 penalty corners were the most for the team in at least the last six years. They also took 27 total shots compared to two for the Hoyas, and Georgetown recorded just two corners.

The Hoyas' goalkeeper, Rachel Skonecki, made nine saves. Neither of Georgetown's shots were on goal, making it an uneventful contest for Temple goalkeepers Lizzy Millen and Haley Mitchell.

Youtz scored the only goal of the first half, and then got two more goals four minutes apart midway through the second half. She assisted on the game's final goal by Katie Foran shortly after completing the hat trick.

Despite an extremely aggressive first half by the Owls, they only came out of it with one goal. Temple took 18 total shots while holding the Hoyas to zero, with nine of those being shots on goal. Skonecki made eight of her saves in the first half, and Youtz got just one past her for the 1-0 halftime lead.

Youtz's goal came in the 24th minute of the first half. After a deflection, Youtz scored off a ball from Sarah Deck to put the Owls ahead.

It was a challenge for the Owls to play on Georgetown's field turf, and Youtz said on corners especially it was a big learning curve for the team.

"We just really had to adjust to that field," she said. "It's a completely different game on that surface. We get some experience (in the Pavilion) but don't really reach game pace in practice."

Nearly 20 minutes had elapsed in the second half before Temple really got going with a barrage of goals. Youtz fired a shot from the center of the circle that went in for a 2-0 lead, and four minutes later she scored on a corner play and made it three goals for the game thanks to an assist from Nicole Kroener.

Only 50 seconds of game time later, Foran redirected a shot by Youtz into the back of the cage as the Central Dauphin duo made it a final score of 4-0.

"We finally just broke them down and were able to outlet the ball to our forwards," said Youtz. "The faster team was going to get it done today. That's a strength we have and we really relied on it. We had to make a lot of adjustments (on the field turf) and it was a challenge, but we got it."

In the final 10 minutes, two Temple shots went wide while one shot by the Hoyas also went wide.

With 24 goals this season, Youtz has now surpassed her previous season high of 22 from 2012. She stands alone in fifth place all-time in a single season at Temple, while her 66 career goals are now just two away from tying for third place on the career list.

Box Score (PDF)