Field Hockey Falls to No. 7 Penn State Despite Strong Defensive Effort

Friday, September 1

State College, Pa.

6:00 p.m.

Temple University

(0-3)

Penn State

(3-0)

Temple

Penn State

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Field Hockey Falls to No. 7 Penn State Despite Strong Defensive Effort

9.1.17 | Field Hockey

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

STATE COLLEGE - After holding #7 Penn State scoreless for the first 30 minutes and trailing just 1-0 at halftime, Temple field hockey ultimately lost 5-0 on Friday night to the undefeated Nittany Lions (3-0). Sophomore goalkeeper Maddie Lilliock tied her career high with 11 saves for Temple (0-3) as part of a strong team defensive effort, but the Owls were unable to get things going offensively.

Keys to the Game
> Temple allowed just a single goal after 30 minutes of scoreless play in the first half, but gave up four goals in the second. All but one of Penn State's goals were scored on penalty corners.

> The Nittany Lions were awarded 14 corners to Temple's one, and took 18 shots on goal.

> The Owls' defense was strong all around, thwarting numerous opportunities for Penn State and coming up with two defensive saves in addition to Lilliock's 11 goalkeeper saves.

> PSU's Aurelia Meijer scored on a corner play for the only goal of the first half in the 31st minute.

> Two of Lilliock's four first-half saves came in the final minute 20 seconds on Penn State corners. The Lions were awarded two corners with time expired, leading to Lilliock's second save and to a defensive save by junior Nellie Doyle.

> Lilliock made seven of her saves in the second half, and the Owls' got another defensive save from redshirt junior Ashley Kucera.

Game Notes
> Lilliock's 11-save performance tied the high she set three times as a freshman in 2016.

> Doyle and Kucera each have two defensive saves this season to lead the Owls.

> Sophomore Kathryn Edgar took a shot on goal in the second half, but it was saved by Penn State's Jenny Rizzo.

Quotable
"Our composure in the first half all over the field was the Temple that we're looking for," said head coach Marybeth Freeman. "We saw the belief in ourselves that we're able to compete at a very high level and we were able to hold the No. 7 team in the country scoreless for 30 minutes. Now we need to capitalize a little bit more on the opportunities we generate with our press when we get into our front field.

"To be honest, this was the best collective team defense I've seen Temple play. I have to give credit to our back line. Nellie Doyle had the best game I've seen her play to date. Our ability all around to step to the ball and break up plays was what we needed to do. I'm just really happy with the competitiveness and physicality we played with on defense, and I thought our team defense was really good inside our 50 yard line."

Next Up
> Temple will have a week off before heading to #14 Northwestern for a 2 p.m. contest on Friday, Sept. 8.