Tulsa Smashes Five Past Temple in Thursday Afternoon Win

Thursday, October 19

Hurricane Stadium

1:00 pm

Tulsa

4-7-5, 2-1-4

Temple

2-11-3, 0-7-0

Temple

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa Smashes Five Past Temple in Thursday Afternoon Win

10/20/2023 12:20:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Box Score (PDF) | Season Stats (PDF)

TULSA, Okla. – The Golden Hurricane women's attack was flying from the opening whistle as Tulsa beat the Temple Owls 5-0 on Thursday afternoon at the Hurricane Soccer Stadium.

Tulsa improves to 4-7-5 on the season and 2-1-4 in conference play. The Hurricane grabbed a vital three points in the conference standings, moving TU up to a tie with SMU for sixth on 10 points. With UAB's loss to Memphis on Thursday, a win or draw against the Blazers on Sunday would help Tulsa clinch a spot in the conference tournament.

Temple drops to 2-11-3 with the loss and remain winless at 0-7-0 in The American.

"We did a really good job of figuring out ways to break up their possession and capitalize on it." Tulsa head coach Jim Rhein said. "And then we took advantage of our opportunities with our finishing.

"If someone had said we were going to come in and score five goals on Temple, I probably wouldn't have believed them. I did not expect us to be able to possess the ball as well as we did. Temple played UTSA and they had the ball for 70 percent of the game. It was just a great effort from the entire team."

Kayla Fernandez picked up a goal and an assist in the match. She also helped force an own goal early in the second half. Piper Szafranski, Maggie SymSmith and Leah Diaz also found the net in the win, and Szafranski also notched an assist. Jordan Frederick's hot form continued as the junior picked up a pair of assists and recorded five shots, three on target.

"Jordan's confidence has been through the roof lately," Rhein said. "The big thing is that she's been doing extra training. She's asking for extra work and she's getting technically stronger. She understands what her role is and how she's supposed to accomplish it. It's confidence and it's a lot of hard work."

Tatum Sanders made the start in goal and played 40 minutes. However, shortly before halftime, she went down with an injury. Raegan Beeding replaced Sanders and played the final 49:31 of the match recording a pair of saves.

The Golden Hurricane is back in action on Sunday afternoon for Senior Day and Alumni Day as Tulsa takes on UAB. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. and the match will air on ESPN+.

How it Happened
It took only 2:21 for Tulsa to find the opening goal. The Hurricane created a turnover in the midfield and quickly went on the attack. Szafranski drove toward the Temple box before playing it out wide to Frederick. Frederick immediately played a ball across to Kayla Fernandez, who fired it past the goalkeeper to the right from just behind the penalty mark.

Not long after, Tulsa doubled its advantage with a goal in the 12th minute. Another midfield turnover and quick Tulsa passing led to Karsen Aguirre in space. The junior midfielder took advantage and raced down the pitch before a pass to the right flank fell perfectly into Frederick's run. Frederick again played a great ball into the box, this time finding Szafranski just inside the penalty mark. Although Szafranski didn't hit it as cleanly as Fernandez, her shot had pace and bobble, making it difficult for the goalkeeper. She got a glove on the shot, but was unable to push it wide as it hit the inside of the post and spun in to put Tulsa up 2-0.

Tulsa had 15 shots in the opening half, five of which were on target, but were unable to extend the lead past 2-0 in the first 45 minutes. That scoreline wouldn't hold, though, as a Temple own goal 12 minutes into the second half made it 3-0. Fernandez stepped in front of a defender to win the ball near the edge of the box on the right side. She looked for goal with a low, driven shot. The effort was curling wide until a defender tried to intercept and instead connected and placed the ball in her own net.

Maggie SymSmith got in on the action in the 64th minute with her first goal of the season and possibly the pick of the five goals scored on the afternoon. Fernandez took a corner from the right side and fired in a low cross. SymSmith ran across from the other side, beat her defender and redirected the cross with a flick of her right foot, sending it looping inside the far post for the 4-0 lead.

Just a few minutes later in the 68th, Diaz gave Tulsa its fifth and final goal. She stole the ball off a Temple defender following a throw in . The freshman drove across the box and unleashed a curling, powerful left-footed shot that the goalkeeper had no chance of saving as it hit the roof of the net above her, putting an exclamation mark on a dominating performance.

Game Notes

Tulsa's five goals were the most the Hurricane have scored in a conference game since winning 5-1 at Nevada in 2004 and tied for second most behind a 9-1 win at Wyoming in 1997.
The Hurricane outshot Temple 23-12 and 12-3 in shots on target.
There was not a single offside decision in the match for either side.
Each team received one yellow card in the game
Tulsa is 2-0 this season in early Thursday afternoon kickoffs, with both wins coming against Owls … Tulsa defeated Rice 2-1 at Hurricane Soccer Stadium on Sept. 28 in a game that had a 1 p.m. kick.

Scoring Summary
Tulsa 2 3 - 5
Temple 0 0 - 0

Individual Scoring
Kayla Fernandez (Tulsa) at 2:21 (Jordan Frederick, Piper Szafranski)
Piper Szafranski (Tulsa) at 11:05 (Jordan Frederick, Karsen Aguirre)
Temple Own Goal (Tulsa) at 57:15
Maggie SymSmith (Tulsa) at 63:39 (Kayla Fernandez)
Leah Diaz (Tulsa) at 67:06

Goalkeeper Saves
Tatum Sanders (Tulsa) – 1
Raegan Beeding (Tulsa) –2
Taylor Vecchione (Temple) – 7
TEAM (Temple) – 1