Needing to make a run down the stretch to put itself in position for a spot in the BIG EAST Tournament, Temple lacrosse came up with a huge, 10-5 win over Vanderbilt (8-7, 3-4) thanks to a bigtime team effort, particularly on defense. The Owls (9-6, 4-3) got 14 saves from sophomore goalkeeper Maryn Lowell along with impressive numbers from defenders Nicole Latgis and Kara Nakrasius. Keys to the Game > Vanderbilt's Kayla Peterson came into the game with 51 goals (second in the BIG EAST) while teammate Emily Mathewson has 40. The Owls' defense held both Peterson and Mathewson scoreless for the entire contest.' > The Commodores' five goals were by far their fewest of the season behind a nine-goal effort in a loss to Georgetown. > Lowell had just three saves in the first half before coming up huge with 11 more in the second to keep Temple in the lead. > The Owls recorded 15 caused turnovers compared to six for the Commodores. > Temple got just four goals to Vanderbilt's three in the second half, but was able to stay well in the lead thanks to a strong first half. Individual Highlights > Sophomore Maddie Gebert came up with her fourth hat trick of the season, leading all players with three goals. > Defensively, Latgis posted a career-high nine ground balls to go with a career-high five caused turnovers, and collected three draw controls. > Nakrasius led all players with four draw controls and also recorded six ground balls and three caused turnovers. > Senior Kira Gensler, junior Amber Lambeth and freshman Jackie Cerchio all scored two goals apiece, while senior Toni Yuko added one. > The Owls got assists from Lambeth, junior Molly Luderitz, sophomore Julia Ryan and freshman Jen Rodzewich. > The 14 saves by Lowell mark her second-most of the season and her seventh performance with 10 or more goals in 2018. Game Summary > Temple dominated in the first half with 15 shots to Vanderbilt's six and had a 12-5 edge in shots in goal. > Leading 2-1, the Owls rattled off three straight goals including both by Gensler on free-position opportunities. > Each team scored once more in the remaining time, and the Owls took a 6-2 lead into the break. > The second half was back-and-forth the whole way, but it was Temple to score first and last. There was nearly a 10-minute break with no scoring halfway through, a stretch in which Lowell posted five saves. Quotable > "This was the game we needed. We've been prepping hard for it and we knew Vanderbilt was going to pose a great challenge to us. Every game matters right now to get ourselves into the BIG EAST Tournament, so the pressure was on. I was thrilled with the way the team played. It started with solid defense...that turned into some great interceptions and caused turnovers that sparked our attack." - Temple head coach Bonnie Rosen "I feel great. This is the first time in awhile that we've played our defense without assigning people and having specific mark-ups, so it kind of forced everyone to watch film on everybody and it was more of a team defense than individual which helped a lot...Maryn played amazing. I just can't put it into words. She came up with huge saves and sparked our attack." - Temple senior defender Nicole Latgis Next Up > The Owls will face city rival Villanova on the road on Saturday, April 21 at 1 p.m. The BIG EAST game will be televised live by Fox College Sports.