The Orange and Blue were unable to boost their four-game winning streak to five against No. 13 Temple, despite coming out with striking confidence. In their first home game of the season on Sept. 20, the Bison struggled to defend their turf, suffering a 2-1 loss and dropping their record to 4-2 overall.

The first half of the match was relatively slow, with the only goal coming from Temple in the 20th minute. The first half stats show that the Owls controlled most of the match’s early minutes in terms of shots, shots on goal, and penalty corners.

Temple would score again in the second half, making it 2-0 with under 29 minutes left. The Bison did not give up nor slow down, as their intensity increased and work ethic surged in the remaining minutes, putting themselves in a few good positions to tie the game.

Amie Pritchard ’15 capitalized off of a penalty corner and put the Bison within one goal, but the Orange and Blue were unable to find the back of the net for the equalizing goal over the remainder of the game.

​“We did not come out as strong as we needed to in the first half, and we were not able to make up for it in the second half,” Pritchard said. “Going forward, now we know that we need to come out strong from the very beginning. In our first Patriot League game against American, we need to work on putting the ball in the back of the goal.”

Still, the Bison will take this loss as a lesson that will benefit the team during Patriot League play.

“We always seem to play our best hockey against American, and this will be no exception. The key will be coming in mentally prepared, which I have no doubt we will since it’s our first Patriot League game. When we play like us, we win; it’s as simple as that,” Anna Wills ’17 said.

Patriot League play will begin against American on Sept. 27 at 11 a.m., as the Orange and Blue will continue their four-game homestand against the defending Patriot League champions.