Field Hockey: Tiernan earns conference honors
Temple junior midfielder Nicole Tiernan was selected as the Owls’ lone representative on the 16-player All-Big East Conference preseason women’s lacrosse team last Tuesday. The conference’s eight coaches voted on the roster.
Her 29 goals ranked second-most on the team in 2014, and helped result in her Big East second-team selection last season, as well as an invitation to try out for the U.S. Women’s national team last summer.
Big East newcomers Florida and Vanderbilt both contributed players to the preseason all-conference squad, including a league-best four from the Gators.
-Matt Cockayne
Track & Field: LaRoache takes gold
Senior Kiersten LaRoche was the only Temple track & field athlete competing on Friday, but she kicked off the team’s win with a victory.
Hosted by George Mason University, the two-day event started off with the men’s and women’s pentathlon competitions.
LaRoche’s event, the Pentathlon, was a five-part competition consisting of the 60-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800-meter run.
LaRoche dominated the competition, placing first in three out of the five events – the 60-meter hurdles in 8.91 seconds, the shot put with a distance of 10.89 meters and the long jump in 5.49 meters.
She placed second in the high jump, clearing 1.64 meters, and in the 800 with a mark of 2 minutes, 31.52 seconds. These finishes were enough to accumulate 3,671 points in the women’s pentathlon, which awarded LaRoche the first-place finish.
The event was worth 10 points and gave Temple the early lead in women’s competition.
LaRoche finished fifth in the 60-meter dash with a mark of 8.80 seconds in Day 2 of the competition on Saturday. The Owls swiped four gold medals en route to finishing fourth overall.
-Tyler DeVice
Football: Rhule honing in on four-star recruit
As the time dwindles in the 2014-15 recruiting period, the Owls are making a concerted effort to land four-star running back T.J. Simmons to its Class of 2015.
Per a report from the Inquirer, the 6-foot-1, 205-pound back visited Main Campus last week and – after decommitting from UCLA, is expected to sign with the Owls next Wednesday, during national signing day.
Simmons is ranked the No. 17 running back in the country by rivals.com, a recruiting website.
Simmons is one of two four-star recruits expected to sign with the Owls, the other being New Jersey defensive back Kareem Ali Jr., who has already signed his letter of intent, according to Owlscoop.com.
-EJ Smith
Women’s basketball: Covile makes honor roll
Junior forward Erica Covile was named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll Monday for the third time this season.
In games last week against Connecticut and Central Florida, Covile averaged 13.5 points, 9 rebounds, 3.5 steals and 2.5 assists. She is averaging 11.2 points per game and 9.4 rebounds per game for the season.
The Owls, who went 1-1 through the two-game stretch, are fourth in The American with a 6-3 conference record and a 10-12 overall record.
-Michael Guise
Men’s basketball: Owls earn multiple honors
Will Cummings and Obi Enechionyia each earned American Athletic Conference honors Monday for their performances in wins against Central Florida and Tulane last week.
Enechionyia is the conference’s rookie of the week after averaging 10.5 points per game and 3 rebounds per game for the week.
Cummings was included in The American’s weekly honor roll after he averaged 13.5 ppg along with 5 rebounds and 4 blocks per game, respectively, through both games for the Owls (15-7, 6-3 The American).
-Andrew Parent
Softball: Cut team set to return as club
After being one of the five varsity sports cut by the athletic department last year, the softball team will return to play next season as a member of the National Club Softball Association.
The softball team ended its final season 15-30 (5-13 American Athletic Conference) and would have returned 15 players had the program stayed afloat.
The squad joins men’s gymnastics, men’s track & field and the baseball team as former Division I sports that are now club teams at the university.
-EJ Smith
