The (9-5) Temple Owls greeted not one, but two guests to Temple University on Friday evening in a NCLL showdown. The Penn State Nittany Lions (6-1) and Mother Nature were in town for a defensive battle. Mother Nature kept both squads hydrated by supplying a steady rain throughout the first half. In a closely contested battle, both squads flashed plenty of defense.
Penn State dominated early on and took four shots on goal before the Owls had a possession. Will Corsi (4g) found rope twice sandwiching a beautiful dodge move tally by Hunter Revord (1g,1a) to push Penn State to a 3-0 lead after the first quarter. A battle of will was unfolding with the Owls determined to get their inside game untracked and Penn State keeping them at bay.
The times Temple were able to penetrate Goaltender Jack Davis generally had an answer and turned away 13 Temple chances. Zachary Longacre made 5 saves in the first half while Robert McPeake turned aside 6 for Temple.
Owen Winters (1g) narrowed the lead with about 4:00 gone in the second before the Lions Nick Varano (1g) got it back to a 3 goal advantage with a man down tally for the visitors. Bailey Haines (2g) countered and the rain stopped with a 4-2 Penn State lead at the half.
Corsi and Haines exchanged markers 2:00 apart and Temple seemed to be getting untracked. Revord hit a breaking Corsi to close the third quarter with Penn State in the driver's seat, 6-3. Temple waged an effort to get it close but the Lions had the answers and with a little over 2:00 to play, Corsi put a dagger in the comeback for an 8-3 road victory.
Dis and Dat: Statistically it was a very close game with Temple holding an advantage on shots, 31-27.
Loose Balls favored Penn State, 23-22 with Temple holding a minor edge in Face offs, 8-6.
Both teams will await their postseason fate as NCLL playoff matchups are expected in the next several days. The opening round of NCLL playoffs are next weekend.