Men’s soccer drops two in California

The men’s soccer had a tough time handling two Big West Conference teams this weekend.

They departed from Philadelphia on Thursday morning in route to California, where they took on California Poly-Tech on Friday and California State Northridge on Sunday.

Coach David MacWilliams was expecting some quality competition heading into the road trip. Following Fridays matchup, he credited Poly-Tech as being worthy of the Top 20.

“I think we had our legs under us but we played really strong teams,” MacWilliams said. “They have very good teams out here.”

Poly-Tech played a different brand of soccer that may have caught the Owls off guard. Despite a strong defensive effort, the Owls fell 4-1 to the Mustangs. Senior Cody Calafiore admitted that the Owls were probably outmatched, citing their ferocious offensive attack.

“They were an amazing team,” Calafiore said. “We’re not used to that type of soccer.”

Sunday’s game against Cal State Northridge didn’t end much differently. The Owls were heavily outshot 25-7. Freshman Jared Martinelli was able to notch his much awaited first collegiate goal in the 88th minute, but it wasn’t enough to salvage a win for the Owls. The Matadors took the game, 2-1.

The Owls will now have the week off before shuttling to Ambler this weekend to host games against Saint Peter’s and Howard. After dropping both games on the West Coast swing, the Owls have fallen to 1-3-1 in the early going of the 2012 season.

-Tyler Sablich

McCarthy signs with Italian team

Former Owl Kristen McCarthy will be playing professional ball overseas.

The 2012 graduate signed with Club Atletico Faenza, in Italy, a team that finished sixth in their league last season.

McCarthy joins fellow 2012 graduate Shey Peddy, and 2011 graduate Qwedia Wallace as recent Owls to make the transition to the pro level. Peddy was drafted in the second round by the Chicago Sky of the WNBA in April while Wallace is also overseas.

The combo guard/forward ranks fourth all-time at Temple with 1,619 points in 131 games (most all time), and holds the single-game record with 42 points against Charlotte as a sophomore.

She was an integral of the team’s three consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Tonya Cardoza and company return to action in November in their final season in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

-Jake Adams

Women’s soccer squares off against Hartford

The women’s soccer team will complete their first home series of the season on Sunday when the Owls take on Hartford at the Ambler Sports Complex at 2 pm.

After a 1-0 loss to Drexel on Friday, Sept. 14, the Owls will look to grab their third win at Ambler, as well as their third win of the season.

“Hartford is going to be similar to Drexel,” redshirt-junior forward Jackie Krostek said. “They are going to come at us strong, but our defense is going to have to be strong again.”

Just like Temple, Hartford has yet to win a match on the road this year, as they have posted a record of 0-1-1 away from home. This season, the Owls are 2-1-0 on the season when playing at home.

“[Hartford] is a very offensively gifted team,” coach Matt Gwilliam said. “They have a couple of special kids and we are going to be wary of them.”

Hartford senior Amelia Pereira is one of those special kids, as she currently leads Hartford with thirteen points, five goals and three assists on the season.

“Hartford is a team that we didn’t have much success against last year,” Gwilliam said. “We all remember that, and we want to show them how far our program has come in one year.”

Last season, the Owls fell to Hartford at home 5-1, allowing three goals in the first half, and two goals in the second half. Temple hopes for a different result in this season’s match, Gwilliam said.

“I think Hartford believes they have an easy match again this year,” Krostek said. “I believe they will be in for a big surprise this time.”

-John Murrow

Tournament crown within volleyball team’s reach

The Owls will take the court in McGonigle one last time this weekend when the host Cornell in the finale of the Temple Invitational Saturday evening.

Temple, who defeated Central Connecticut State University 3-1 and swept Navy 3-0 on Friday, needs one more win to claim the tournament crown. But they will have a tough match against a Cornell squad that dominated the Blue Devils in the final set of a 3-1 win earlier today.

The Big Red hit .305 as a team, led by junior outside hitter Kelly Marble’s 16 kills, 14 digs and five aces.

The Owls were helped out Friday by 18 kills courtesy of senior outside hitter Jingyu Zhang against Central Connecticut, and then 14 kills from junior outside hitter Gabriella Matautia against the Midshipmen.

Temple will be looking for their tenth win of the season. The match starts at 5 p.m.

-Jake Adams

Cross country debuts strong at Friend Invitational

The cross country teams opened their season at the Friend Invitational with two strong first-place finishes from sophomores Cullen Davis and Jenna Dubrow.

As a team, the men’s squad won with 24 total points, beating inter-city rivals La Salle and Saint Joseph’s, who scored 31 and 85 points respectively. On the women’s side, Dubrow’s strong race led to a second-place team finish with 36 team points, trailing La Salle (29), but besting Saint Joseph’s (63).

Dubrow’s first-place finish continues her streak of leading the women’s team in every race so far in her collegiate career. Davis, on the other hand, continues to improve. After a breakout performance in last year’s Atlantic 10 Conference Championships, Davis picked up right where he left off.

Davis was followed by junior Will Kellar, who was the race’s runner-up, while sophomore Matt Kacyon placed fourth overall. Senior Tonney Smith placed sixth overall in the women’s race, while sophomore Chelsea Carleton and senior Rayna Kratchman placed seventh and 10th, respectively.

The Owls will continue their season on Sept. 28 at the Paul Short Invitational, hosted by Lehigh University.

-Avery Maehrer

Ice hockey season debuts against Millersville

Ice hockey coach Jerry Roberts made it clear that when his team walks out of Lancaster Ice Rink after they play Millersville University Saturday, they expect to be walking out on top.

“We structured our schedule so that we could provide our players with an opportunity to get their feet wet in the beginning of the year, and we’re looking at this one as a must win,” Roberts said. “We can’t let this one slip away.”

Temple will open their season with the Millersville game and will have to keep their focus and intensity levels at a maximum in a game in which they appear to be the favorites, Roberts said.

“We’re not the seasoned group we want to be yet, but the one thing we do have control over is our intensity, focus and the ability to execute the game plan,” Roberts said. “If they come out with that drive and intensity, we shouldn’t have to worry about anything else.”

In what is the first test of the season, Roberts will be looking for good performances out of some of the team’s younger players, including freshman forward Jason Marbaich.

“I think [Marbaich] is going to have a good game,” Roberts said. “He’s looked really good in practice and it looks like he wants to show his new teammates what he’s going to bring. We haven’t had a freshman make a major impact in his first game in a long time.”

Millersville finished as the runners up in the Great Northeast Collegiate Hockey Conference last season, and compiled a 16-2-1 record, good for first place in the western division.

The puck is set to drop at 5:45 p.m.

-Andrew Parent

Women’s soccer puts home win streak on the line against Drexel

The women’s soccer team will be taking on city rival Drexel on Friday, Sept. 14 at 4 p.m. at the Ambler Sports Complex.

“Drexel is going to be a high pressure team,” redshirt junior Jackie Krostek said. “They are going to come at us offensively and hopefully, we can absorb that.”

Entering the match, the Owls have had five home shutouts in a row dating back to last season. With two shutouts this year against New Jersey Institute of Technology and Iona, the Owls can only hope to keep this streak alive against a tough Drexel team, coach Matt Gwilliam said.

Temple (2-4-1) is undefeated (2-0-0) at home.

Drexel (5-1-1) is entering the city rival match against the Owl’s on a two game win streak. Drexel has not lost a match since they opened up the 2012 season against Longwood on Aug. 17.

For Temple, the squad is coming off of a tough 1-0 loss to Princeton on Sunday, Sept. 9. Freshman goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff allowed one goal against Ivy League Princeton.

“It is going to be a tough match for us,” Gwilliam said. “I expect a boxing match between the two city rival teams.”

-John Murrow

Home invite begins with Central Connecticut

The Owls kick off the Temple Invitational Friday afternoon with their first match against Central Connecticut, looking to win their second home match of the season.

Temple enters the match 7-4 coming off a straight-set sweep over New Jersey Institute of Technology on Wednesday night to kick off an eight-game home stand.

Coach Bakeer Ganes has stressed for several weeks that the offense is trying to get junior outside hitter Gabriella Matautia more involved. Wednesday night she dropped 12 kills against the Highlanders, tying fellow junior outside hitter Elyse Burkert.

Ganes expects a tough match from the Blue Devils, despite their 5-5 record.

“Central Connecticut usually is pretty solid,” he said. “I think it really comes down to what we’re going to do on our side. We really have to take care of our business.”

The match starts at 4 p.m. in McGonigle Hall.

-Jake Adams

Field hockey faces Delaware

Coming off of a disappointing shutout loss to Lafayette last Sunday, the field hockey team is looking to pick up two wins this weekend.

On Friday, the Owls take on Delaware (2-5) at Geasey Field at 3 p.m.

The Blue Hens have played a tough early schedule, facing No. 1 North Carolina, No. 10 Michigan and two other Top 25 teams.

Delaware is led by the duo of senior forward Nikki Onorato and freshman midfielder Michaela Patzner, who both have four goals apiece this season.

Earlier this week coach Amanda Janney said that tomorrow’s game will be physical.

“Delaware is a team that we’ve split with in the past, every other year we’ll beat them,” Janney said. “[Delaware] is always a talented, aggressive, and very physical team.”

Temple is in need of a win after dropping two games in a row at home this past weekend, where the team scored a combined one goal in both games.

Sophomore forward Amber Youtz has four goals and three assists on the season, but hasn’t scored a goal in two games.

-Colin Tansits

Runners ready for first meet

The cross country season officially kicks off tomorrow afternoon, as the men’s and women’s teams will host the Friend Invitational at West Fairmount Park’s Belmont Plateau course at 3 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. respectively.
Newly hired coach Adam Bray, who has had just a few weeks to prepare with the team, is looking forward to seeing his athletes in action for the first time.
“I want to see them compete, first and foremost,” Bray said. “I haven’t seen them race other than [redshirt senior Travis Mahoney] at the national meet. So I want to see how competitive they’re going to be.”
Mahoney, a two-time All American, is what Bray calls the “one key ingredient” to the current roster, and has evolved into a leader and role model for both teams. Although he will not be running in Friday’s event due to strategic reasons, last week he discussed what the race will accomplish for the Owls.
“It’s more of a rust-buster,” Mahoney said. “It’s to kick the rust off the legs and run and see what we’ve built up over the summer—and what we’re made of.”
The men’s squad, which placed 10th in last year’s Atlantic 10 Conference Championships, will face fierce competition in the event, as it hosts La Salle University and Saint Joseph’s University. La Salle is coming off of a strong 2011 season in which it won the A-10 title, led by a first place finish from now-senior Alfredo Santana. Last week, in La Salle’s opener, Santana had another first place finish in a match against the University of Pennsylvania. St. Joe’s finished third in the conference last year, and featured Rookie of the Year Paul Szulewski. The Friend Invitational will be the Hawks’ third race of their season.
On the women’s side, which placed 12th in last year’s A-10 Championships, the Owls will also face two solid teams. Like the men’s team, La Salle’s women snagged a first place finish in last year’s A-10 Championships, while Saint Joseph’s placed fifth. Temple has just two freshmen on its current roster, and hopes its returning athletes—including last year’s team leader sophomore Jenna Dubrow—will provide valuable experience for the team this season.
Rayna Kratchman, who is one of four seniors on the roster, is looking forward to racing on the team’s home course at Belmont.
“I think we’re all excited to be able to race there,” she said.
Kratchman would like to see the team do better in the conference, in what is its last year before moving to the Big East.
“I definitely would like to be able to make a little more of an impact, as a team, in the A-10’s, because in the past we’ve kind of hung in the middle,” Kratchman said. “But I’m hoping that we can move ourselves up given that we’re going to be in the Big East next year.”
If that is Temple’s goal going into the season, doing well in tomorrow’s meet against two conference inter-city rivals would be an awfully good start.
-Avery Maehrer