Kevin M. Neibauer
LaxPhilly- A Division of the Edge of Philly Sports Network
The Temple Women’s Lacrosse Team had reason to be happy going into their game against UC Davis.
Receiving votes for a Top Twenty Ranking and Belle Mastropietro being added to the Tewaaraton Watch list gave an upbeat feel to the team.
I know you are asking….who are UC Davis?
Before we get to the game…valid question.
Who is UC Davis?
UC Davis is one of the oldest women’s lacrosse programs on the West Coast. Only Stanford and Cal are older.
UC Davis is 3-4 this season. Last season, the Aggies had their best season since 2000, going 12-4 and winning the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF).
Suzanne Isidor is in her fifth season leading UC Davis (35-24). Isidor has extensive head coaching experience. She is in her 19th season as a women’s lacrosse head coach, including a ten-year stretch as the bench boss of Penn State.Isidor has not had a losing season since her first as coach of the Aggies.
UC Davis has a unique situation as a West Coast lacrosse program. The Aggies are members of the MPSF, a “conference” with members that are different in every sport to give schools whose primary conference does not sponsor a given sport a place to play.
UC Davis is one of only three women’s lacrosse members, with the other two being San Diego State and Fresno State.
Being on the west coast also presents some unique scheduling situations. Despite playing in a different conference, the Aggies face off against San Diego State, Cal, Denver, Colorado, Oregon, Stanford, and USC every season.
That answers that
To the Action.
Suzanne Isidor and Bonnie Rosen are two of the best coaches in the game. So, prime lacrosse figured to be on display
A tight defensive gem of a game unfolded at Temple University.
The Stags (3-4) would account for the only goal in the opening quarter.
Alex Agnew picked up her first of four assists by setting up a breaking Kendall Seifert (2g) with 8:18 on the clock.
Quarter Two..
Temple (6-3) took control with a five goal rebellion.
Quinn Nicolai (1g) started it off at 9:17 with Riley McGowan (5g) stealing the spotlight with a natural hat trick.
The McGowan goals came just 4:01 apart to pushed it to a 4-1 Owls lead.
McGowan took a break while MacKenzie Roth (1g,2a) made it 5-1 with thirty seconds remaining.
Third Quarter.
Ella Breslin (1g) stopped the run and the Stags scoring drought of over 23 minutes at 14:01.
McGowan hit her fourth followed by Roth hitting Maeve Tobin (1g) on the edge of the crease to give Temple a 7-2 advantage.
UC Davis seem to find their legs with Regan Arkless (2g) beating Temple netminder, Annie Carroll at 3:13 and again with :13 remaining
Mia Lawrence (1g) cashed in on an Agnew set-up with just :08 remaining
End of Third, 7-5 Temple..
The lady of the hour, Belle Mastropietro (2g) on a sweet slide goal at the 14:00 mark seemed to deflate the Stags.
Thirty seven seconds later, McGowan cashed in number five and Temple went into a kill the clock mode.
UC Davis had no quit with Agnew hitting Seifert.
Temple closed it out on markers from Julie Schlickling (1g) and Mastropietro capping her day.
“I thought this was a really great game for us today. It’s been a good week of practice and I think coming off last week’s losses this was a big test on how we could perform and handle playing a game confidence wise. UC Davis has been playing really good lacrosse, so we knew this would be a challenge for us. I’m really proud of us staying in the game after a slow start and finding a way for us to build a lead.”– Head Coach Bonnie Rosen
Inside the Numbers..
• Shots were 35-24 for Temple.
• Saves heavily favored the Owls, 15-4.
• Turnovers had UC Davis with 18 and Temple 14.
• Ground Balls also went the Temple way, 20-13.
• Draw Controls: 14+5 for the home team.
• For the Stags, Ashley Laing allowed 11 goals with 4 stop.
• Annie Carroll turned aside 15 tries by UC Davis
Kevin has followed and promoted the game of lacrosse since May 19, 1974.
The same day the Philadelphia Flyers won the Cup, the Philadelphia Wings were introduced to Neibauer and Philadelphia.
Kevin has covered many sports, including baseball, football, basketball, and.. lacrosse. A former licensed football referee and baseball umpire, Kevin brings a unique insight to his game coverage.
A published writer in JustHockey Magazine, Kevin covered the American Hockey League as well as a monthly story on a pugilist where Kevin used the pen name, The Rink Rat. Neibauer turned his attentions to lacrosse for a few years and does his part, whether podcasting or writing to grow the game. Kevin branched out to his roots and currently provides insight for all Philadelphia teams for Edge of Philly as well as his full-time duties with LaxPhilly.
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