Before the start of the 2019 season, the Owls announced that they will be joining the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA) at the end of the season. To ready the team for 2020, 4 MCLA opponents were added to the schedule for the spring of 2019.
The Owls first MCLA game was on Saturday, March 30th against the Central Connecticut Blue Devils (D2), where Temple came out victorious 12-8. This clinched the programs first victory over a MCLA team in program history. Senior attackman Bailey Haines led the way in the victory with 5 goals, while junior attackman Owen Winters pitched in 3 goals of his own. The following day Temple traveled to Boston, MA to take on Northeastern. Despite scoring the opening goal of the game, the Owls ultimately fell 16-4 to the Huskies.
The following weekend, the Owls hit the road again to face the only other MCLA program in Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh. This was the first ever men's lacrosse game between the two schools, a matchup to become known as the "Battle for I-76" in years to come. Temple raced out to a 2-0 lead in the opening quarter, but Pitt was able to claw back into the game, eventually taking and keeping the lead resulting in a 9-5 loss for the Owls. Freshman midfielder Tanner Haines led all Temple scorers with 2 goals and an assist.
Two days later in Morgantown, WV the MCLA schedule would come to a close against West Virginia on their Senior Day. Coming off of two consecutive MCLA losses, the Owls blew open the game in the first quarter racing out to a 7-1 lead. As the first half came to an end, Temple kept stretched the lead to 7, with a score of 10-3 at the break. However, that would not be the last of the Mountaineers who closed the lead to 4 at the end of 3 quarters with a score of 13-9. The lead would shrink to 1 as West Virginia scored with 5:14 left in the 4th quarter making it 14-13 Temple. After a timeout to calm the team down, the Owls rattled off the last 3 goals of the game, ending with a 17-13 victory. This was Temple's first victory against an MCLA Division 1 program. The 17 goals in a game were the Owls most since 2017. Also in the game, Bailey Haines broke the Temple program record for goals in a game (7). Freshman midfielder Colin Harms canned 3 goals and 2 assists.
The Owls ended their MCLA schedule with a 2-2 record, but more than anything built some new great relationships and rivalries.
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