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WOMENS LAX: Temple Lacrosse Takes Down Tenacious Saint Joseph’s

By Morgan Killian-Moseley Photo: Zamani Feelings, 03/10/23, 2:15PM EST

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By: Morgan Killian-Moseley

PHILADELPHIA –  Though the Big 5/City 6 may have lost some of its luster in recent years, when two Philadelphia colleges battle in any sport, there’s always an extra edge in the competition, no matter what their records heading into the day may be.

The Temple Owls women’s lacrosse team just had a little bit more of an edge last Sunday, as they fought off a very hungry Saint Joseph’s Hawks squad for a 13-10 win.

Junior midfielder Bonnie Yu landed the first strike of the game for the Crimson and Gray 1:16 into the matchup, but Temple would respond 53 seconds later, as junior midfielder Camryn Zavacky would capitalize on a setup from senior attacker Mackenzie Roth for her first goal of the season. The Owls would take the lead on Amelia Wright’s sixth goal of the season with 8:41 left in the 1st quarter, and would extend it on Roth’s eighth tally of the year. Yu would deliver her second tally in the final seconds to cut the Hawks’ deficit to 3-2 after 15 minutes.

In the second quarter, Owls star senior middy Belle Mastropietro delivered once again for the Cherry and White to give them a two-goal cushion. But 57 seconds later that insurance was gone, as sophomore middy Maddie Yoder would connect on her 11th goal of the season to make it a one-goal game again. This would be the first of three unanswered goals by St. Joe’s, as Riley Evans would deliver the equalizer 92 seconds later off of a turnover by Temple’s Charessa Crosse; and Yu would complete her hat trick 62 seconds afterwards to give the Hawks a 5-4 lead.


Temple women's lacrosse is on a two-game win streak, heading into weekend match-up vs. UMBC - Photo by Zamani Feelings

That lead would only last 38 seconds, though; as Zavacky set Wright up on the power play for her second goal of the game to knot things at 5-all.  A minute later, Yu nearly put the Hawks back on top, but the goalie’s best friend came through for Temple sophomore keeper Taylor Grollman as Yu’s shot rang off the post. And with less than four minutes to go in the half, Julie Schickling struck for her 8th goal of the campaign to give the Cherry and White as 6-5 lead that they would carry into the intermission.

The Owls scored back-to-back goals to start the third quarter, as well; as Mastropietro and Roth would both get their markers of the contest to push the Temple lead to 8-5.

But as the saying goes on the Main Line, “The Hawk Will Never Die”; and Yu was the personification of that sentiment in this game, delivering her fourth goal of the contest soon after to cut the St. Joe’s deficit back down to two.  And though a quick response to Yu’s strike came from Temple’s Erin King, and Roth would complete her hat trick 67 seconds after that; Yu would set up Kate Tomick’s second goal of the season and Yoder’s second of the game, both while the Hawks were a woman up, to make it 10-8 after three quarters.

But the Owls’ offense would keep St. Joe’s at arm’s length, as Mia Ciancio would score her second goal of the year, and Mastropietro and Wright would finish off their hat tricks to make it 13-8 with seven minutes to go. And though Yu would later score her career-high fifth goal of the game on a free position shot, and Evans her second off a rebound, it was too little too late for the Hawks.

Mastropietro’s hat trick puts her team-leading total up to 18 goals for the year (now 22). In addition to her hat trick, Roth added two assists to her line, giving her a team-leading nine; while Wright added an assist to her hat trick as well. Maeve Tobin also picked up an assist for Temple.

Yu’s career-high seven-point performance gave her the team lead with 16 on the year, with her five goals tying her with Yoder atop the St. Joe’s leaderboard. Emma O’Neill and Kate Fuhrman also picked up assists for the Hawks.

St. Joe’s outshot Temple 27-22, but the Owls had the 20-16 edge in shots on goal.  The Owls also had the edge in the draw circle 14-11, with Maddie Barber controlling seven draws for the Owls. Both teams picked up 17 ground balls.

Grollman made six saves, including two on free position attempts, in the win for Temple.  Junior Jorden Concordia made seven stops in the losing effort for St. Joe’s.

The Hawks were 1-for-3 on free position shots, while the Owls converted their lone free position attempt.  Temple went 2-for-3 on the power play, while St. Joe’s were 2-for-4 a woman up.

Four days later, the Owls traveled to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. and defeated the Marist Red Foxes 14-10. With her fourth draw control of the afternoon, Mastropietro broke Temple’s all-time draw control record (237), which was previously set in 2021, according to OwlSports.com.

With the win, Temple climbs to 5-2 on the season and the Owls will look to keep the momentum rolling at home tomorrow afternoon as the team hosts UMBC at Noon. The game will be broadcasted live on ESPN+.