In the four years Temple (Pettway) Mitchell patrolled midfield for the field hockey team at SMU, she was selected as the team's Most Valuable Player in three consecutive seasons. During both her junior and senior years, she was the Corsairs' team captain as SMU posted a combined record of 31-20-6. During her junior year, SMU qualified for the ECAC Tournament with an 11-4-2 mark in 1990. It was only the second ECAC tournament appearance in SMU history at the time. Following both her junior and senior seasons, she was selected First Team Northeast Regional All-America by the College Field Hockey Coaches' Association. Her selection as First Team All-Regional made her only the second player in the program's history to earn such an honor.