Lacrosse Defeats No. 18 UMass in First Round of NCAA Championships

Friday, May 14

Newton, Mass.

4:00 P.M.

Temple University

13-5

#18/NR UMass

15-3

Temple

UMass

Photo by: John Quackenbos

Lacrosse Defeats No. 18 UMass in First Round of NCAA Championships

5.14.21 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

NEWTON, Mass. - The Temple lacrosse team (13-4, 7-3 AAC) defeated UMass 14-13 to win its first NCAA tournament game since 1998 (15-3, 8-0 A-10). Belle Mastropietro led the charge for the Owls, with five goals including the game-winner. This win sets up a second-round matchup against No. 4/4 Boston College Sunday at 1 p.m.

Recapping the Game
> Both goalies made saves early to keep the game scoreless. For Temple, Shana Hecht made two keys saves to keep the score knotted at zero after four minutes.
> Mackenzie Roth found fellow midfielder Belle Mastropietro to open the scoring with 25:36 left on the clock. UMass scored its first goal soon after.
> Abaigael Ryan and Mastropietro both found the back of the net in quick succession to extend the Owls lead to two (3-1).
> Senior midfielder Jen Rodzewich found her first score sandwiched between a pair of UMass goals to trim the lead down to one (4-3).
> Mastropietro secured an early hat trick with 11:29 remaining in the first half. This kickstarted a 5-0 Temple run. Roth scored the next two, with attacker Meghan Hoffman scoring as well. Mastropietro found the back of the net again for the fifth goal to put the Owls up 9-3 at the break.
> The two sides exchanged goals to begin the second half. With Bridget Whitaker, Hoffman, and Julie Schickling scoring for Temple (12-6).
> UMass would not go quietly, and the Minutewomen had their own 5-0 run to pull within one score.
> Whitaker scored a critical goal to end the run and give Temple a two-goal cushion (13-11).
> UMass quickly responded with a strike of their own, but Mastropietro had one more goal left in the tank. The sophomore fired a laser with 11:16 remaining to regain the two-goal lead.
> The Owls were fantastic defensively in the last 11 minutes. The Minutewomen were simply not able to get the shots on goal needed to complete the comeback. UMass scored with 3:21 left of the clock and was only able to fire a desperation heave well above the cage as time expired. Temple won 14-13 to advance to the next round of the tournament.

Statistically Speaking
> Mastropietro led Temple with a stellar five-goal performance. Roth, Hoffman, and Whitaker scored two each. Ryan, Rodzewich, and Schickling had one goal apiece.
> Roth had three assists, two of which were to Mastropietro. Whitaker also added two assists while Mastropietro, Hoffman, and Zinkl had one each.
> Temple used a total team effort to win the ground ball battle (15-12). Ten different Owls picked up at least one ground ball.
> Courtney Taylor led the Owls with five draw control wins. Her three caused turnovers have her just one short of tying the single-season record (42).

Tournament History
> This was Temple's first NCAA tournament appearance since 2008 and Temple's first NCAA tournament win since 1998 when they defeated the Duke Blue Devils 17-10.
> This is Temple's first one-goal tournament game since 1987 when it fell to Penn State 7-6 in the National Championship. The Owl's defeated New Hampshire 9-8 the same year in their last one-goal tournament win.
> Temple has advanced to ten Final Fours, has been National runners-up four times, and won the National Championship twice (1984, 1988). They also won an AIAW title in 1982.

Quotable
> " This team has had the ability to find a way all year and we did it again today. UMass competed so hard and as expected it went down to the last seconds of the game. To come away with a win today is truly thrilling for our team, our parents, and our alumnae!" -- head coach Bonnie Rosen

Next Up
> Temple will face No. 4 seed Boston College on the Eagles' home turf Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN3.