Field Hockey Tops Villanova in Senior Day Thriller

Sunday, April 11

Philadelphia, Pa.

12:00 P.M.

Temple University

Villanova

Photo by: Richie Raspa

Field Hockey Tops Villanova in Senior Day Thriller

4.11.21 | Field Hockey

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - In its final BIG EAST game of the regular season, the Temple field hockey team defeated Villanova 3-2 Sunday afternoon to keep its tournament hopes alive. The top three seeds in the BIG EAST tournament have been set (No. 1 UConn, No. 2 Liberty, and No. 3 Old Dominion), while the fourth seed remains in play with Providence and Temple in the running.

With their win over Villanova, the Owls improve to 7-9 (4-8 BIG EAST) while the Wildcats fall to 4-10 (3-9 BIG EAST). The victory doubles the number of conference wins from last season, with the Cherry and White going 2-5 in BIG EAST play.

Prior to the game, Temple seniors Taylor Alba, Elaine Bachelder, Dani Batze, Cristina Carotenuto, Veronika Novakova, and Mia Sexton were honored as part of senior day activities.

Recapping the Game
> The Owls came out firing, with Nienke Oerlemans scoring her team-leading fourth of the season three minutes into the game off a penalty corner.
> Temple held its lead through halftime, but the Wildcats would pull ahead less than five minutes into the third quarter with back-to-back goals on a penalty corner and a penalty stroke.
> Sophomore Caitlyn Amsden scored her first career goal on a penalty corner to even the score at 2-2 with just over 10 minutes left in the game.
> Freshman Myrthe Schuilenburg put the game away at the 52-minute mark off a pass from Novakova, recording her first goal as an Owl.

Statistically Speaking
> Temple outshot the Wildcats 13-6, putting seven on target.
> Oerlemans, Novakova, Schuilenburg, and Amsden led the team with two shots each while five other Owls each fired one shot.
> Carotenuto recorded two saves, with the Temple defense allowing four shots on goal.
> The Cherry and White allowed just three penalty corners, tying for the season low, and successfully defended two.

Quotable
> "We are thrilled with today's performance. Every day we fight and crawl to keep ourselves alive. This team is making the proper strides to push our program in the right direction. To have a quick two goals scored against us in the third and remain resilient is the fight that a player on North Broad Street should have. Our seniors played hard today and our team fought hard for the seniors. Every day we lay a brick and it's nice to see the foundation being set." – Temple head coach Susan Ciufo

Next Up
> The Owls will close out the regular season at home against Big 5 rival La Salle on Thursday afternoon.