Box Score

Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

NEWARK, Del. -- The University of Delaware women’s lacrosse team doubled-up Temple at Rullo Stadium Wednesday afternoon, 14-7 on the strength of three goal apiece by sophomores Julianna Jeffers and Lindsey Coon (at right).

Delaware, which improved to 2-3 for the season, has now won seven of the last nine meetings in the series, including the last five. Blue Hen head coach Kim Ciarrocca won her third straight in as many games facing her alma mater and a team she served as head coach for from 1993 until 2004.

The Blue Hens controlled the action for most of the game despite the Owls winning more groundballs (23-18) and draw controls (13-10). Delaware converted 14 of its 17 clear attempts and outshot Temple 29-18 on the afternoon. The Owls turned it over 22 times to UD’s 16.

Leading the way offensively for the Blue Hens was Jeffers. The sophomore attack took a game-high seven shots, putting five on net and tallying three goals. Coon also had a big all-around day for Delaware, recording a career-high three goals on three shots, picking up two groundballs, winning two draw controls and causing two turnovers.

Temple was led by midfielder Allison McWilliams and Chelsea Rosiek, who scored three and two goals, respectively. Rosiek led the team with five shots, and she scored on both of her free-position opportunities.

Delaware jumped out to a 2-0 lead within the first three minutes of play off goals by sophomore midfielder Ali Libertini and senior midfielder Deb Sloan. Libertini’s goal was assisted by junior attack Morgan Marino, and Sloan’s goal was unassisted.

Nearing the halfway point of the first half, Sloan assisted on Jeffers’ girst goal of the afternoon and then scored her own goal not two minutes later to increase UD’s lead to 4-0. Sloan would finish the day with three points on a goal and two asissts. The senior captain now has 97 career points at Delaware.

Temple would get on the board nearly 20 minutes into the game when Rosiek scored the first of her two goals off a free-position shot. After Jeffers pushed UD’s lead back up to four with her second goal of the day at 5:25, Temple answered with two goals within two minutes from McWilliams and Rosiek to shrink the lead to 5-3 with 2:16 left before intermission.

That was the closest Temple would get as the Blue Hens cushioned their lead with two consecutive goals in the final minute of the first half that came within 18 seconds of each other. First, Coon scored off an asisst by Libertini with 38 seconds left and then Delaware marched right back down the field and Courtney Aburn scored a free-position goal with 20 seconds left. With those two goals, UD was back up by four at 7-3.

With 20 seconds remaining in the half, Temple’s McWilliams won the draw control, sprinted down the field and blasted a shot past Blue Hen goalkeeper Jessica Cerveny with just four seconds left in the half, closing the gap to 7-4 to end the half.

Delaware then started the second half on a 3-0 run, led by Coon’s two goals and one by sophomore attack Corinne Drost. Temple was scoreless for over 10 minutes of play to start the second half before McWilliams scored her third goal of the day on a free-position shot at 19:21.

But after McWilliams’s goal, Delaware went on a 4-0 run as four different Blue Hens found the net in a span of under five minutes. First, Jeffers scored her third and final goal at 18:31, then Libertini scored her second at 16:51 off an assist by junior attack Courtney Aburn.

Drost would be the fourth multiple-goal scorer for the Blue Hens as she scored at 14:13 off a feed from senior defender Amanda Lahiff after she intercepted a Temple pass and ran the ball down the length of the field. Holly Burman added the last UD goal at 9:43. The goal was her second of the year, and gave the Hens their largest lead of the day, 14-5.

Temple’s Ann Stouffer and Missy Schweitzer would score consecutive goals for the Owls in the final two-and-a-half minutes to give the game a final score of 14-7.

Delaware played without two standouts in junior attack Emily Schaknowski and senior midfielder Alexis Curcio as both were serving one-game suspensions after being red carded in last Friday’s game against Albany.

They both will be back in action on Saturday when the Hens host St. Bonaventure at 12 noon at Rullo Stadium. Schaknowski is just two points away from the 100-point mark for her career.