Nicole Tiernan's Six Goals Lead Lacrosse Past Rutgers, 11-10

Wednesday, March 11

New Brunswick, N.J.

6:00 p.m.

Temple University

7-1

Rutgers

1-6

Team	1	2	Final F
Temple	5	6	11
Rutgers	6	4	10

Nicole Tiernan

Photo by: Hua Zong

Nicole Tiernan's Six Goals Lead Lacrosse Past Rutgers, 11-10

3.11.15 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - With a career-high six goals, junior midfielder Nicole Tiernan led Temple lacrosse to an 11-10 win at Rutgers on Wednesday evening. The win puts the Owls at 7-1 for the season, and they are off to their best start in 18 years since the 1997 squad started at 8-1.

Tiernan, the reigning BIG EAST Midfielder of the Week, scored three goals in each half, including the game-winner with two and a half minutes left. Rachel Schwaab scored twice for Temple, while Nicole Barretta, Morgan Glassford and Megan Tiernan scored one goal apiece.

The Owls have now won four games by a single goal, and two others by two goals. Temple head coach Bonnie Rosen said those previous outcomes became a big advantage today.

"Today was clearly a day that all these tight games paid off," she said. "It was in the back of everyone's mind that we can finish out this game."

Rosen credited Tiernan with having the mindset and ability to score despite the obstacles put in her way.

"Nicole is confident, the offense is moving well, and she's able to put the ball past the goalkeeper," said Rosen. "We're really happy with the threat she has become. They made some adjustments and were sending a double team on her, but in the end she still found her moves to score. She is hard to stop with her speed, and she has a pretty pin-point shot."

The Owls trailed by a goal at halftime, 6-5, before exploding for a 5-0 run in the second half. Temple led 10-6 with just under nine minutes remaining before the Scarlet Knights (1-6) launched a comeback, and tied the game at 10-10 near the five-minute mark. Tiernan scored the game-winner with 2:30 remaining, and the Owls' defense held strong in the remaining time.

The first half was back-and-forth with ties at every goal, the fifth coming at 5-5 with 5:21 remaining. Rutgers was able to take a one-goal lead into the break after scoring with 50 seconds left to take a 6-5 advantage.

Tiernan scored twice in the opening two minutes of the second half, both on free position opportunities, to start the Owls off on what would become a 5-0 run. After the Scarlet Knights rattled off four in a row to tie the game, Temple held strong in the final minutes and regained composure in order to score the winning goal.

Rosen was quick to credit the work of others that leads to opportunities for Tiernan to score.

"It comes down to a lot of work from our other attackers creating the scoring opportunities and wearing teams down to allow Nicole to continue finding her shot," said Rosen, who also gave credit to Summer Jaros on the draw control and Jaqi Kakalecik in goal.

"Summer did a really nice job helping control the draw today," she said, "and helped keep Rutgers on their toes. The stat sheet has Jaqi with three saves, but she did a phenomenal job in goal today. Those stats don't tell the story in terms of her presence on defense."

Temple will face another tough challenge in its next game, traveling to #19 Delaware for a 3:00 p.m. contest on Saturday, March 14.

Box Score