TOWSON, Md. – This weekend the Towson University field hockey team has a split schedule with a road trip Friday and home game Sunday.
 
The Tigers travel to No. 11 Delaware on Friday, Oct. 18 for a 5 p.m. matchup in conference play and return home to host Temple at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Streaming information for both games can be found on the field hockey schedule page on TowsonTigers.com, with the Towson Sports Network broadcasting Sunday's game.
 
Last Time Out
Towson is coming off a double overtime victory over Georgetown on Sunday at home, secured by Georgia Beachley on a game-winner.  In the first 40 seconds of play, freshman attack Samantha Aljets scored the opening goal and the Tigers held onto that lead into the second period. The Hoyas struck once in the second quarter and entered halftime tied. Georgetown scored four minutes into the third and defended the net through the next 18 minutes before Beachley found the back of the net and scored from the top of the circle. Neither team scored in the remaining seven minutes of regulation, as two periods of overtime ensued. An aggressive foul call resulted in a penalty stroke for the home team which Beachley sent home to win the game.
 
Scouting the Tigers
Leading the Towson offense is freshman Georgia Beachley with five goals and three assists, she is tied for 10th in goals scored in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). Freshman Samantha Aljets and sophomore Kathryn Parkinson have scored four goals apiece this year while Aljets leads the team in assists with six. The Tigers are on pace to surpass last year's goals scored (19) with 18 goals currently recorded through 13 games and six remaining on the schedule. Rookie goalkeeper Tess Okkerse continues to guard the posts with 74 saves and a .649 save percentage. Okkerse remains in the top-20 nationally, ranked No. 19 in saves per game with an average of 5.69.
 
Scouting the Blue Hens
Delaware (8-3, 1-0 CAA) enters the weekend off a 3-0 loss to No. 3 UConn last week. The Blue Hens have one conference win, over then-No. 25 Northeastern and two more wins over top-25 teams this season. Leading the Delaware offense is Femke Strien with nine goals and two assists while eight other Blue Hens have scored at least once this season. Sydney Rhodes has started all 11 games between the posts, with 32 saves and a goals against average of 1.04. The Blue Hens defense has greatly helped Rhodes keep goals away, with four shutouts this season and just 11 goals allowed the senior keeper is ranked No. 11 nationally in goals against average. Delaware is averaging 2 goals per game and currently sits in second place in the CAA standings.
 
The Delaware Series
Friday will be 41st meeting between the two teams, with Delaware leading the series 33-5-2. In 2018 the Tigers hosted the Blue Hens, falling 2-1 in Johnny Unitas ® Stadium. Towson has not won against Delaware on the road since 2004 and the last Tiger win over the Blue Hens came in 2010. In the last matchup played in Newark, Towson fell 9-0.
 
Scouting the Owls
Temple starts the weekend with a 5-6 mark, 1-3 in conference play, a member of the Big East field hockey conference. Before coming to Towson the Owls will play a conference foe at Old Dominion on Friday night. Temple most recently lost in overtime to Lafayette on the road. Leading the Owls' offense is Dani Batze with four goals scored while Nienke Oerlemans leads the team in assist with three. Cristina Carotenuto has played 655 minutes in the net and allowed 19 goals, she has 38 saves this year and a save percentage of .667. This season Temple has taken wins over Merrimack, La Salle, Bryant, Drexel and Georgetown.
 
The Temple Series
Sunday's matchup will be the fourth meeting between the Tigers and Owls. Temple has won all three previous games, most recently last season at home. In 2018 the road team scored first, a goal by Katie McNeel 18 minutes into the game, but the Owls scored two unanswered, once in the 43rd minute to tie the game and the game-winner on a penalty stroke in the 70th minute.
 
Alumnae Game Sunday
This weekend Towson is celebrating homecoming and so is the TU field hockey team. The team will host an alumnae tailgate in Lot 21 on Saturday afternoon for the football game. On Sunday the Tigers celebrate Alumnae Day with recognitions on the field of returning alums and post-game knockerball fun for those who want to participate. There will be a bounce house for children as well.

Tigers in the Community
The Towson University athletics department deems community service as one of its highest priorities to give back to the Greater Baltimore area. For the seventh consecutive year, the department exceeded 10,000 hours of community service to the Greater Baltimore region, finishing with 11,162 hours of community service in the 2018-19 academic season. Towson ranked No. 1 nationally for community service and won the 2018 National Championship for Community Service through the Helper Helper NCAA Team Works Competition. Towson had a 97% participation rate, attended 118 community service opportunities and volunteered with 19 organizations. Towson won the 2018 Volunteer of the Year Award from Susan G. Komen of Maryland.