PHILADELPHIA- The Temple lacrosse team fell 15-9 to No. 11 Florida in the conference opener Friday afternoon. This is the first of a two-game series the teams will play at Howarth Field, with the second leg taking place on Sunday. Recapping the Game > The Gators opened the game with two goals. Attacker Maggi Hall scored one and assisted on the other. > Midfielder Bridget Whitaker converted a free position shot to get the Owls on the board. > The Gators scored the next four goals to go up 6-1. > Temple countered, scoring the next three to trim the lead down to two. Whitaker scored two of the three with Kara Nakrasius adding one. > Florida added one more before the half, to take a 7-4 lead into the break. > The Gators opened the second with two scores before Whitaker netted her fourth of the day. > The teams traded scores before Florida scored three in a row to extend the lead to seven. > Belle Mastropietro attempted to lead a late push, but it was stopped by a Florida score that pushed the game back out of reach. > The Owls scored two of the final three goals, with Florida scoring in the last 10 second to seal the game 15-9. Statistically Speaking > Whitaker set a new career-high with five goals on the day and tied her career-high with five points. > Mastropietro scored twice. She has scored in every game this season. Nakrasius and Jackie Cerchio both scored once. > Meghan Hoffman and Mackenzie Roth both added an assist. > Courtney Taylor set a new career-high with eight ground ball pickups. Quotable > " We have to look at what Florida did today and really make our adjustments to what our game needs to beat them on Sunday. We are going to have to recover well over the next two days, but from a strategy standpoint we are going to watch the film and come at them on Sunday."- head coach Bonnie Rosen Up Next > The Owls have a rematch Sunday against the No. 11 Gators. The game will start at noon and will be broadcast on ESPN+.