Two-game skid ends with resounding win

Temple (11-5) came into the game as a regular-season champion, having tied Richmond with a 6-1 record in the Atlantic 10 standings. Princeton came into the game on the sour note of a two-game losing skid after Penn marred its perfect record last week and Dartmouth scored a narrow victory over the Tigers this past weekend.

The Tigers have not lost three consecutive games since March 2003, when they recovered to win their second-straight NCAA title. Princeton had won its previous nine games against the Owls, with four of those wins coming in Philadelphia, and the team took the field ready to keep that streak alive.

Temple was able to slow down the tempo in the first half and keep the ball away from the Tigers. Princeton scored first but could not maintain any rhythm, making only four of 14 shots on goal in the first half. It also missed two free-position shots. Sophomore goalie Kaitlyn Perrelle, however, kept the Tigers in the game with five saves in the first half.

“We got the first goal, but we were still slow to gain offensive possession in the first half,” junior midfielder Holly McGarvie said. “We had a pretty poor shooting percentage in the first half — we were shooting right at the goalie. They worked a stall-type offense and spread us out on defense … they took a lot of time with the ball, and that made it harder on our attack.”

Temple did not fare much better, making only two of 10 shots on goal and one of four free-position shots. Still, its performance was good enough to keep it in the game as the teams went into halftime with Princeton leading 4-3.

The Tigers regrouped during halftime and came out for the second half ready to take control of the game. With better control of the ball, they were able to score on 10 of 15 shots in the second half.

The Owls could not keep up and managed just eight shots on goal in the second half, of which they made three. The Tigers also converted on their only free-position shot in the half, while the Owls made one of two free-position shots to put the final score at 15-7.

“We were able to work the ball and move the ball around the keeper in the second half,” McGarvie said. “We caught the Temple defense off guard and took control of the game.”

Though the Tigers were again playing without senior midfielder Katie Lewis-Lamonica and junior midfielder Kristin Schwab, they had plenty of offensive weapons against the Owls. Junior midfielder Katie Cox had three goals and two assists in the game, and junior attack Christine Casaceli added three goals and an assist.

Freshman midfielder Lizzy Drumm added three more goals, and McGarvie had two goals and one assist.

“There have been injuries on and off this season,” McGarvie said, “but we’re just trying to work with whoever is out on the attack, and everyone has been stepping up.”

After getting knocked around on its home field in its conference games last week, Princeton got back to the style of play that served it so well in the beginning of the season.

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“The last two days of practices were really intense, and we were getting back to the basics of having fun but pushing each other and being competitive,” McGarvie explained. “We had a great 30 minutes in the second half against Temple, being competitive with one another and believing in one another.”

After Wednesday’s brief break from conference games, the Tigers will head to Providence, R.I., on Saturday for their last league game against Brown. Princeton is currently tied with Cornell for second place in the Ivy League behind Penn, who has finished conference play undefeated and eliminated the Tigers’ shot at the league title. Brown (6-8, 2-4) is tied with Harvard for sixth place in the league.