The field hockey team will enter the 2013 season as a Big East Conference affiliate, and the newly released schedule shows that they will be up against tougher competition as a result.

This season, the Owls will face seven teams from 2012 that were ranked in the Top 25. Temple will compete against No. 3 Penn State on Sept. 6, No. 19 Richmond on Sept. 8, No. 25 Louisville on Oct. 4, No. 8 Old Dominion on Oct. 13, No. 15 Drexel on October 20, No. 13 Lafayette on Oct. 27 and No. 4 Connecticut on Nov. 2.

The season will begin at home, with the Conference Cup Tournament at Geasey Field during Labor Day weekend.

Two games are scheduled for Aug. 31, with Maryland and New Hampshire playing at noon, followed by Temple’s matchup against Ohio State at 2:30 p.m.  The first and third place games will be played on Sept. 1.

The last home game of 2013 is Oct. 25 against Georgetown. From there the Owls will go on a two-game road trip to play Lafayette and Connecticut before the Big East Tournament begins on Nov. 8.

Temple finished with a 12-9 regular season record in 2012, making it the first time the team has finished with a record above .500 since 2007.

There are eight opponents the Owls faced from last year on this season’s schedule (Penn State, Richmond, Delaware, Monmouth, Rutgers, Bucknell, Drexel and Lafayette).  Temple went 3-5 against those teams last season.