When Alex Lepore arrived at Temple last year, she was quickly thrown into the fire.
Temple coach Michelle Vittese needed to replace the Owls’ starting goalkeeper after Molly Frey graduated in 2023-24 and served in the role for two seasons. Vittese, who’s in her fifth year at the helm, wanted the rookie goalkeeper to battle for the starting job with then-junior Isabella Ospitale, who appeared in one game the following season.
Ospitale eventually won the job and helped sparked the Owls’ run to a Big East championship appearance, which they haven’t made since 2015.
However, this year provided a different outcome. The goalie tandem began the season splitting time, but it was Lepore who snatched the starting role. Lepore has become a force on the field and has helped Temple to an 8-2 start.
“​​It’s always really difficult,” Vittese said. “There’s one goalkeeper that plays at a time, right? I hate that part of my job. If I’m being fully honest with you, I think both are very talented. Bella kind of edged her out last year, related to just calmness, presence in the goal. Alex has a whole year of playing experience with the fall games, but then additionally the spring games, then all the training. You just like her logging more hours of getting more comfortable at this level.”
Lepore has turned into one of the conference’s best goalies, leading the Big East in shutouts with two. Her 28 saves are also fifth in the conference as Temple is riding high despite the roster turnover — the Owls graduated their three best starters in Devin Kinzel, Tess Muller, and Alizé Maes from last season.
As the season goes on, the hope is that Lepore continues to improve.
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“The coaches have always made it known that they do trust me and they do have confidence in me,” Lepore said. “That has helped a lot with me getting confidence back, me getting back on track, and being able to play my best.”
Lepore started in last season’s opener against Queen, the first of four starts while alternating with Ospitale. She came to Temple having just led Conestoga to the Central League and district championship the year prior, but losing the job was one of the first times she watched from the sidelines.
Ospitale eventually earned Big East Defensive Player of the Week while tallying 54 saves the rest of the way to put the competition to rest. While Lepore was happy to see her team succeed, though, it affected her confidence, something that she hadn’t experienced before.
“In high school, I was very confident in my skills,” Lepore said. “It was an adjustment. I did lose some confidence last year. My mom helped me a lot. Just having a support system with you helps a lot. My teammates are so supportive of everything. They help me and Bella both.”
She has worked on improving the mental aspect of her game, and the development has been night and day compared to last season. Vittese said that the goalie who starts for each game is based on their opponent, which is constantly being evaluated.
“I would say goalkeeping is just about consistency,” Vittese said. “I would say [Lepore] just needs to use the defenders in front of her a bit more. That’s something with experience, [that] isn’t something that she really has done. I just think learning that quality will help her go from good to great.”
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With a backline filled with younger talent, Lepore’s athleticism was needed in the net.
The result? The Owls have won six of their last seven matchups.
“It’s very interesting, because we lost a good amount of people last year, and we went into this year thinking ‘Wow, we lost the heart of the team,’” Lepore said. “The seniors, the leadership really stepped up this year. We hold each other accountable all the time. We just prioritize like, having that team dynamic that makes us stronger on and off the field. So we’re very close, we have great team culture and it just shows on the field, because we trust each other so much.”