CINCINNATI, Ohio – Temple women’s soccer opened conference play with a 2-1 win at Cincinnati Friday night. The Owls improve to 8-2-0 and 1-0-0 in the conference while Cincinnati drops to 6-3-2 and 0-1-0 in the conference. The win comes at an appropriate time after last weekend’s losses to La Salle and Delaware.

The result tonight comes in exactly the opposite of last year’s match. The teams' last matchup was on Oct. 20, 2013 at Ambler Sports Complex, which resulted in a 2-1 victory for Cincinnati. Revenge was won tonight for the Owls.

The first half was all Cincinnati’s as Julie Cin Gavorski scored on a header at the 34:04 minute mark. The half ended with Cincinnati outshooting Temple 10-3.

The Owls bounced back and showed some fight in the second half. At the 72:48 minute mark Erin Lafferty took a free kick from 25 yards out and bent it in the upper right post. The Owls continued its aggressive play and after a free kick and multiple headers the ball landed by Kelly Farrell where she buried it into the left post at the 79:52 minute mark. The Owls finished the second half outshooting the Bearcats 8-7 and won in regulation.

“Just unbelievable, greatest night ever for Temple women’s soccer I believe, “said head coach Seamus O’Connor. “ It was an intimating big noisy crowd. I am so proud of all the girls they displayed an excellent effort. Erin Lafferty’s goal might’ve been one of the most beautiful goals I’ve ever seen and deserves the top play of the week.”

Starting goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff recorded four saves tonight. Kerkhoff brought her career saves total to 201 which is now only three away from 5th all time (204). Courtney Woytowicz (1999-00) currently sits at the 5th all-time spot.

Temple will close out the weekend when it travels down to East Carolina University. This will be the program's first ever matchup against the Pirates. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start at Johnson Soccer Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina.

East Carolina comes in with a record of 6-3-1. East Carolina suffered a 2-1 overtime loss to UConn tonight. Last week, the Pirates went 1-0-1. East Carolina tied Thursday at UNC-Wilmington 0-0, and concluded the weekend at home with a 1-0 win against Campbell on Sunday. This will be the first matchup between these two programs.

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