Monthly Archives: October 2013

Doyle selected to Senior Game

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Senior midfielder/defender and co-captain Molly Doyle has been selected to play in the 2013 National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division I Senior Game.

The game will be held at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex on Nov. 23. Doyle is one of 38 seniors selected for the game and one of five coming out of the Big East. She is also the eighth senior that will represent Temple in the past seven years.

“We’re extremely proud of Molly and all her accomplishments,” coach Amanda Janney said in a press release. “She has really developed into one of the best defenders in the nation, and it will be great to see her play with the other top seniors.”

“Throughout the past years, our seniors have been able to show that they are some of the best players in the country,” Janney added. “Katie Briglia (2009-12) had a wonderful Senior Game last year against the US National Team, and we’re excited to see Molly do the same.”

Doyle has played a big role this season on a defense that has held opponents to an average of 1.22 goals per game and has helped to record five shutouts.

Offensively, Doyle is having a career year. She is second on the team in scoring with eight goals and three assists for 19 points, and recorded her first career hat-trick in a 3-1 home win against Bucknell on Oct. 6.

Owls face SMU in first round

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No. 9 seed Temple (6-11-1, 1-8) will face No. 8 seed Southern Methodist (8-8-1, 3-5-1) in the first round of the American Athletic Conference tournament on Friday at 7 p.m. in Orlando, FL.

Despite a their losing record, the Owls have advanced to the conference tournament due to the inclusion of all ten American teams this year. Temple’s last postseason berth came in 1995 when the Owls took part in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.

The Owls are currently skidding, having lost their last eight conference games. In the last weekend of the regular season, Temple was shutout by Rutgers and Memphis by a combined five goals.

Temple will likely depend on sophomore midfielder Kelly Farrell, sophomore Erin Lafferty, and junior defender Alyssa Kirk to end the Owls’ offensive drought. Farrell, Lafferty, and Kirk have recorded a combined 54 shots and 29 shots on goal this season. The trio has also combined for 20 points on eight goals and four assists.

Sophomore goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff has continued to lead the conference with 92 saves and seven shutouts on the year.

Temple’s current losing streak began on September 29, when the Owls received their first conference loss to SMU 1-0. In Temple’s previous matchup against SMU, Mustangs’ freshman forward Kelsey Gorney scored in the game-winning 52nd minute goal.

Just like they have throughout the conference schedule, against SMU, the Owls struggled to record shot attempts. SMU held a  double digit shot advantage, registering 15 shots compared to Temple’s three shots. None of the Owls’ three shots were on goal and in the second half, they failed to take any shots.

The victor of Temple and SMU’s first round match will move on to the second round where top seeded Central Florida awaits. The second round game against UCF will take place on Sunday at 1pm.

 

Field Hockey maintains ranking, Youtz named offensive player of the week

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Temple maintained the No. 17 ranking with one game left in the regular season schedule.

This week’s Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I Coaches Poll has the Owls holding on to the same position they held last week.

Temple won both of its games last weekend, defeating Georgetown on Friday 5-1 in the last home game of the year and then Lafayette on the road 3-2 on Sunday.

The Owls will travel to No. 8 Connecticut on Saturday to wrap up the regular season.

Connecticut was ranked No. 4 last week, but a 5-0 loss to now No. 5 Old Dominion brought the Huskies back in the rankings.

After the regular season ends, Temple will prepare for the Big East Tournament, which begins on Nov. 8 and is also in Connecticut.

Along with Temple, Connecticut, Old Dominion and No. 14 Louisville have also clinched their spots in a postseason tournament where the top-four teams make it in.

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Junior forward Amber Youtz has been named Big East Player of the Week for the second time this season.

Youtz scored two goals and an assist in Friday’s 5-1 win over Georgetown.

The assist, which came late in the second half on a goal by freshman forward Katie Foran, was good for the 100th point of her career.

Youtz wasn’t done for the weekend either, as she added a goal and another assist in Sunday’s 3-2 win over Lafayette.

She scored just under 14 minutes into the first half when Temple was down 2-0, which ended up sparking a rally of three unanswered goals en route to a win.

Youtz is averaging 1.14 goals per game and 2.79 points per game. Both averages are the best in the nation.

Her 103 points is tied with teammate Bridget Settles (2008-11) for fifth all-time in points for the program.

Youtz is also seventh all-time in goals with 42, three goals behind Settles in sixth, who has 45.

Although she missed four games due to injury, Youtz leads the team in scoring this season with 16 goals and seven assists for 39 points. Her 16 goals also lead the Big East.

Field hockey to face Lafayette

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After beating conference rival Georgetown 5-1 on Friday, No. 17 Temple will hit the road for the last two games of the regular season.

The Owls will face Lafayette on Sunday afternoon to wrap up the weekend, and then they will take on No. 4 Connecticut next Saturday.

Lafayette won its last two match-ups via a 4-0 shutout of Holy Cross last Saturday and a 4-3 win against Colgate this Saturday.

With the win against Colgate, Lafayette clinched a spot in its own conference tournament, the Patriot League. Overall, Lafayette is 6-9 with a 3-2 conference record.

Meanwhile, the Owls are looking to secure their spot in the Big East Tournament. They’re 13-4 with a 4-2 record in the conference. Temple is currently fourth in the Big East and the Top 4 teams in the conference make the postseason tournament.

Redshirt junior goalkeeper Lizzy Millen will also be facing her sister, Hannah, in Sunday’s game.

Hannah Millen is a sophomore defender for Lafayette, who has a goal and two assists for four points this season. She has started in all 15 of Lafayette’s games this season.

Lizzy Millen, meanwhile, has been having a great year, starting in all 17 of Temple’s games and posting a .823 save percentage that is among the best in the nation.

Both Lizzy and Hannah Millen played in last year’s match-up between the Owls and the Leopards, which was a 3-0 win for Lafayette on Sept. 9.

Lizzy Millen made seven saves while Hannah Millen entered the game as a substitution.

Football looks for second straight win

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Temple (1-6, 0-3 American Athletic Conference) flew to Dallas, Texas on Friday afternoon as the team prepares for a conference match-up against SMU (2-4, 1-1 American Athletic Conference) on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT.

After earning their first victory against Army last week, the Owls will look to spoil the Mustangs’ Homecoming game.

“We have to find a way to get to the quarterback and try to take away their big play threats,” coach Matt Rhule said. “On offense, we have to find and generate some kind of rushing attack. That’s been hard for us the last couple weeks.”

Entering his second week as the Owls’ starting quarterback, freshman P.J. Walker will look for his second career win on Saturday afternoon.

“I’m staying and watching more film than I usually do,” Walker said. “I’ve been preparing as the starter since day one of the season. Nothing has changed that much.”

Walker said the vibe in practice was more up-tempo now that the team has a win.

“They got the taste of winning, and now everybody is just going out and playing harder.”

The game will be broadcast on ESPN3. Click here for a season preview of SMU published this past summer by The Temple News.

Field hockey wraps up home schedule

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The No. 17 Owls will play the first of the three regular season games remaining on the schedule on Friday afternoon, as they take on Big East rival Georgetown in their last home game of the year.

Friday’s matchup will be a special one for seniors Molly Doyle, Mandi Shearer and Lauren Hunt, who will be playing in their last game at Geasey Field.

The game will also be an important one for the team as a whole, as they look to secure a spot in the Big East Tournament with the regular season quickly coming to a close.

Temple (12-4, 3-2 conference) is currently fourth in the Big East standings, behind No. 10 Old Dominion, No. 14 Louisville and No. 4 Connecticut.

The Owls are coming off back-to-back shutouts, with a 4-0 win over Appalachian State on Friday and a 1-0 over then No. 20 Drexel on Sunday.

For Georgetown, last weekend, and the season in general, hasn’t been too kind.

The Hoyas have lost five straight and have been shutout in their last four games. They were beaten 5-0 by Connecticut last Friday, then 7-0 by Liberty on Sunday.

Georgetown is 0-5 in the conference this season and 2-13 overall.

Temple has played well on the defensive side of the ball all season allowing an average of 1.19 goals per game, while redshirt junior goalkeeper Lizzy Millen has put herself at the top of the NCAA statistics with a .827 save percentage that is tied for third in the nation.

Offensively, junior forward Amber Youtz is fourth in the nation in points per game with a 2.58 average and seventh in the nation in goals per game with 1.08. However, she hasn’t scored since recording a hat-trick against Providence on Oct. 11.

Overall the offense has averaged 2.56 goals per game, with goals coming from Hunt, sophomore forward Alyssa Delp, sophomore forward/midfielder Erin VanHorn and junior midfielder Nicole Kroener in the last two games.

Men’s soccer looks for second conference win

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The Owls will be looking for their second consecutive conference win at Rutgers on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Temple improved in the conference standings after picking up its first conference win last week against Memphis. The Owls now have six points in the conference, landing them in sixth place while having the second best overall record of 8-3-3.

Rutgers, on the other hand, is a point ahead of the Owls with seven, but has a poorer overall record being 5-8-2. Rutgers has a record of 4-4-1 at home this season, but picked up only one win in its last five games: losing three and tying one in the process.

Temple has a record of 2-3-1 this season in their away fixtures. In their last five games, however, the Owls have gone 2-0-3 with one non-conference game during that stretch.

Owls end regular season on the road

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Temple (6-9-1, 1-6) will travel to face two American Athletic Conference opponents, Memphis (9-7, 2-5) and Rutgers (11-3-2, 4-2-1), for their final games of the regular season.

Temple will visit Memphis, Tenn. to play against Memphis on Thursday at 7 p.m. Three days later, the Owls will travel to Piscataway, N.J. for their season finale against Rutgers on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Owls hope to end their six game losing streak which is the program’s most consecutive losses since 2007. Though it has found the back of the net in four consecutive games, Temple has not held a lead against a conference opponent since its first conference game against Houston.

Offensively, junior defender Alyssa Kirk, sophomore defender Erin Lafferty and sophomore midfielder Kelly Farrell have led the Owls, combining for 20 of the team’s 47 point total. Farrell leads the team with three assists, while Lafferty and Kirk are tied for a team-high three goals with freshman midfielder Ingrid Mello. Kirk, Lafferty, and Farrell have either scored or assisted on 12 of the Owls’ 17 goals this season.

Sophomore goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff remains one shutout shy of tying the conference record for shutouts in a season and career shutouts. During conference play, Kerkhoff has led the conference in saves, averaging nearly eight saves per game, but has allowed two goals per game, which ranks among the bottom half of the conference.

Leading the Memphis offense, that has averaged two goals against conference opponents, is freshman forward Valerie Sanderson and senior midfielder Christabel Oduro, who have combined for 20 goals and six assists this season. Freshman goalkeeper Maryse Bard-Martel has amassed 27 saves within the conference.

For Rutgers, they are led on both sides of the ball by a couple of redshirt seniors. American Athletic Conference offensive player of the year, forward Jonelle Filligno, has recorded seven goals and three assists this season. Within conference play, goalkeeper Jessica Janosz leads all goalkeepers with three shutouts in seven games.

In the final weekend of the conference schedule, the seeds for next week’s conference tournament will be determined. All ten members of the conference will participate in the tournament.

Thursday’s matchup in Memphis will be Temple’s first game against the Tigers in program history.

Sunday’s game will be the sixth game between the Owls and the Scarlet Knights since 1991. Rutgers holds the all-time advantage with a 2-1-2 record against Temple. In the most recent matchup, taken place in 2005, Rutgers shutout Temple 6-0.

Field Hockey moves to 17th, ranked for seventh week in a row

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This week’s Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I Coaches Poll has the Owls in the No. 17 spot, keeping them in the national rankings for a seventh straight week.

Temple went 2-0 this weekend shutting out both Appalachian State 4-0 at home Friday and then No. 20 Drexel 1-0 on the road Sunday.

The Owls have three games remaining on the schedule. The last home game of the season will be against conference opponent Georgetown on Oct. 25 followed by two road matchups against Lafayette on Oct. 27 and No. 2 Connecticut on Nov. 2.

Temple is looking to secure a spot in the Big East Tournament, which is filled by the top-four teams in the conference.

Temple is currently fourth in the Big East at 12-4, with a conference record of 3-2. No. 14 Louisville, No. 10 Old Dominion and No. 4 UConn are the tree teams that sit ahead of the Owls in the standings.

Owls travel to Drexel

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The weekend will wrap up with match-up between two of the nation’s Top 20 teams.

The No. 16 Temple Owls travel to nearby No. 20 Drexel in the fourth game left on the regular season schedule. Both teams are coming off a shutout win in their last matchup.

Temple blanked Appalachian State 4-0, while Drexel defeated Lafayette 1-0.

Both teams are also in the midst of winning seasons, with Temple standing at 11-4 and Drexel at 10-4.

Drexel is 5-1 at home this season and Temple is 2-2 on the road.