Quinnipiac had its chances against Temple on Friday afternoon, but the Bobcats couldn’t find the back of the net in a 3-0 loss that dropped them to 0-3 in Big East play.
Quinnipiac would get the first look of this game early as a shot from Rozemarijn Van Keulen would be aired wide right.
Only 3:45 into the first quarter Temple would get its first penalty corner. Mara Lenting sent it on to Peyton Rieger, who will then place it right on the line for a shot by Lonneke Kerkhof, which sails right into the net.
Quinnipiac coach Nina Klein challenged the call, but unfortunately for her the goal will stand, setting the Bobcats down one to nothing early.
Later in the quarter, the Bobcats would have a chance to get right back with their attempt at the penalty corner. It would be passed out to Francisca Eschoyez who would send a hard shot to be stopped by Owls’ goaltender Alex Lepore.
At the two-minute mark, Quinnipiac would get its second chance at the penalty corner as another shot from Eschoyez would get blocked before reaching the net.
To start the second, Temple would get another chance with a corner. A shot by Mathea Lassalle would get blocked by Mo Quaile before being able to reach the net.
The Owls would get another chance at the corner a few minutes later but would be bobbled, allowing the Bobcats to go on a four-on-one counterattack. Temple goalie Alex Lepore would leave the line and dive to stop Quinnipiac’s rush.
Klein pointed to that moment as one her team needed to finish.
“We had a four-on-one today and didn’t capitalize; that’s a big game-time moment,” Klein said. “At that point, it could have been 1-1 or 2-1, keeping it close and keeping our momentum.”
With seven minutes left in the half, Eschoyez would get another chance as she runs past the opposing Owls’ defense and slowly glides one across the turf but going just wide.
With just less than a minute left, Temple’s Lucia Margo would take a shot that would be stopped by Torres to end the half.
Going into the second, Klein wanted to see a change in Quinnipiac’s possession.
We were losing a lot in between the 25s in the first half, and we were just playing to their frantic style,” Klein said. “We made it clear we had to play possession going into the third and fourth, and some opportunities would present themselves.”
A quick start came for the Bobcats at the start of the second half as they would receive a corner just 15 seconds into the half. Cameron Brower would send it out for a shot by Van Keulen that would be kicked away by Lepore.
Temple would then get a rush as Kathryn Gauvin would run it past Quinnipiac’s defense, take a shot that deflects off the mask of Torres, and then slowly bounce in.
The Bobcats would then send a ball to Lauren Keyte, who would deflect it high and wide.
Quinnipiac would have another threatening look as Francisca Eschoyez would shoot the ball off a corner that would be saved, but would be quickly followed by a shot from Katie Shanahan that would then be too far off.
The Owls would get a threatening look of their own as a ball is sent into the arc to Mara Lenting, but would be kicked away by Torres.
Early into the fourth quarter, Quinnipiac would have a good look but would fail to reach the net, which would lead to a penalty corner for them. A shot by Maaike Van Wensen would then get deflected wide.
With 6 and a half minutes remaining in the game, Coach Klein would elect to pull her goalie in hopes of getting on the board.
Just over a minute later a shot from Peyton Rieger would give the Owls a three-to-zero lead.
Quinnipiac would get one last chance on a corner with around four minutes left but the weak shot couldn’t get through.
Quinnipiac looks to bounce back and take the next Big East matchups.
“I need this to be a turning point in our season,” Klein said. “I think we can win out the rest of our Big East games and nonconference schedule. We can take a lot from these losses and really grow and learn as a group.”
With this loss Quinnipiac will move to 0-3 in conference play and Temple to 2-1.
