VILLANOVA, Pa. – Behind an explosion of offense in the first half, Villanova (3-5) defeated local rival Temple (5-4) 13-11. The Wildcats broke a four game losing streak and earned their first home victory of 2020. Villanova scored 12 times in the first half of the game, the highest scoring half of any game this season for the team.
 
Six Wildcats scored against the Owls, led by senior attack Liz Trojan who had a team-high four goals. Her final goal of the night was her 100th career goal at Villanova.
 
Senior attack Katie Comerford recorded her fifth hat trick of the season, while Kim McDonough and Libby McKenna both scored twice. Grainger Rosati and Alexa Tsahalis each tallied a score of their own as well.
 
Despite not scoring, current team point-leader Brittany Bruno had a team-high three assists. Comerford and McDonough also had two each.
 
McDonough also dominated on draw controls, notching eight in the game.
 
In the net, Alexa Moro made 12 saves, and recorded a save percentage of .522 on 30 shots face, her second highest of the season.
 
As a team, the Wildcats held a 15-11 advantage on the draw and a 23-19 advantage with shots on goal.
 
The Owls won the groundball battle 18-10 and had a 10-4 advantage with free position shots.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Temple scored the first goal of the goal to go up 1-0 early, but the Wildcats scored the next seven goals, two from each McDonough and Trojan, and one each from Tshalis, Comerford and Libby McKenna.
 
The Wildcats only allowed two more goals in the first half by the Owls, with Comerford and Trojan each scoring twice more and McKenna putting one more into the back of the net to go into the half up 12-3.
 
However, the Wildcats only scored once in the second half, a goal from Rosati from Bruno and were outscored as a team 8-1 by the Owls to finish the game.
 
UP NEXT
 
The Wildcats will travel to Virginia to take on No. 17 Richmond at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The Spiders are 7-0 on the