Lacrosse Comes From Behind in 18-16 Home-Opening Win vs. Monmouth

Wednesday, February 15

Howarth Field

3:00 p.m.

Temple University

2-0

Monmouth

1-1

Monmouth

Temple

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Lacrosse Comes From Behind in 18-16 Home-Opening Win vs. Monmouth

2.15.17 | Women's Lacrosse

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PHILADELPHIA - Reigning BIG EAST Attacker of the Week Brenda McDermott scored the game-winning goal with 12 seconds left, and Temple lacrosse (2-0) went on to beat Monmouth 18-16 in its inaugural game at Howarth Field. McDermott totaled a career-high seven points in the win, adding six assists to her game-winning goal.

Down 16-13 with 5:46 remaining, the Owls dominated the rest of the way with five unanswered goals in the come-from-behind victory. Senior Morgan Glassford recorded a game- and career-high 11 draw controls, getting a crucial three of those in the final four and a half minutes.

"I told them it was simply stunning," said head coach Bonnie Rosen when asked what she said to the team after the game. "We talked about how down the stretch, we act like a veteran team when the pressure is on and that's an amazing thing to already exist in this team. Now if we can just focus on getting a little bit better every game, that will be the next key. But it's just thrilling to see how we find a way, at the end of the game, in a very poised manner, to finish games."

For a second game in a row, sophomore Amber Lambeth scored a team-high four goals to also match her career high. Senior Carly Demato and junior Nicole Barretta also completed hat tricks with three goals each, as did senior Anna Frederick who scored the Owls' insurance goal on a Brooke Williams' assist with three seconds remaining in regulation.

In addition to her 11 draw controls, Glassford finished with four points, adding two assists to two goals and tallying a team-best three caused turnovers.

Monmouth (1-1) had two players total an impressive seven points. Olivia Higson added one assist to a game-high six goals, and Nicole Ceraso scored three goals along with four assists.

The game was an extremely close one nearly the whole way, with the teams trading goals on mini runs throughout the contest. Demato scored twice and senior Krissy Gallivan added another in a 3-0 run that gave the Owls a 5-3 lead close to the midway point of the first half, but Monmouth scored five of the next seven goals for an 8-7 lead with 5:36 to go.

After each team scored again, Barretta sent Temple into halftime with a 9-9 tie on an unassisted goal with 27 seconds remaining.

Barretta scored again on a McDermott assist to open the second half, but Monmouth then rattled off four straight for a 13-10 lead. Each team scored twice over the next five minutes, leaving Temple down 16-13 before its late comeback.

Lambeth got the final run going on a free-position opportunity with 4:36 left, and McDermott assisted on back-to-back goals by Frederick and Williams to tie the game at 16-16 with 1:38 on the clock.

The Owls' got the next draw from Lambeth, but after a turnover, freshman Maddie Gebert came up with a huge caused turnover to get the ball back. Temple called timeout with a minute left, and was patient on the ensuing possession before McDermott drilled the game-winner into the cage with 12 seconds left.

"To be able to walk away with a win is a wonderful way to break in this new facility," said Rosen. "With our team right now, they're able to really stay present down the stretch with the pressure is on. Our mindset as a team was focusing on what we had to do which was 'get the next draw.' Morgan was outstanding in doing that. She's magical, honestly. Then we just started to find our offense and we kept it simple. We've been really lucky that this team has been able to stay focused on playing the game and not getting caught up in the emotional runs of the game."

Temple will face its biggest challenge yet in its next game, traveling to #13 Princeton for a noon contest on Saturday, Feb. 18.