Stella will be at Temple home games this season. // FOOTBALL COMMUNICATIONS
Meet Stella.
The three-and-a-half-year-old great horned owl from the Elmwood Park Zoo is set to attend Temple football home games this year, with a sideline view at Lincoln Financial Field.
The owl was at practice this afternoon, where she “met with” the Temple athletes and head coach Matt Rhule.
Today marked the first day of summer practice for Temple football, as the team opened up training camp at Edberg-Olson Hall.
“They were excited to get out there and play and run around and compete a little bit,” first-year head coach Matt Rhule said. “It’s kind of hard because there’s no pads on, and no hitting—the things they like to do. But I thought we had good energy.”
There is one item in particular Rhule says he is stressing more than anything else: running.
“We’re going to run all day,” he said. “Guys were maybe starting to cramp up a bit because we had a long practice, but in order to play that style of football you need to be in shape. You have to outrun your opponent. It’ll take a day or two to get that back in their system, but they like that and they like playing football this way.”
According to Rhule, unity is one of the biggest aspects of the team that stands out early on.
“The biggest thing we feel is that we’re in this together,” Rhule said. “We’ve been through a lot with these guys—they want to win, and we want to win. So we’re going to do that that together.”
Read more at: http://temple-news.com/sports/2013/08/05/football-training-camp-begins/
Temple football participated today in The American Athletic Conference Summer Kickoff media day event in Newport, R.I.
The Owls were ranked ninth out of the 10 conference teams on the preseason media poll, ahead of only Memphis. Louisville is the overwhelming favorite, according to the poll, having received 28 first place votes.
Interviews were streamed to The American’s website, when each head coach took the podium to take questions from the press. First-year Temple head coach Matt Rhule was asked about his transition into The American.
“I think it’s unique for me even as a head coach, usually even as you come into a league, even if it’s your first year as a head coach, you can go back and watch some film and see this things, see the people you’re going to play, how your players stack up,” Rhule said.
“I think one of the things that I haven’t heard a lot of people talk about about this league is all the different, unique styles of offense we’re going to see,” Rhule added.
He then went on to break down some of the competition the Owls will face this season, in addition to discussing the quarterback position.
Rhule was the only coach at the event to not have been asked more than one question from the media.
The Temple News was not in attendance at the event. The full transcript of Rhule’s interview can be found here: http://www.theamerican.org/documents/2013/7/30/Temple_-_7_30_13.pdf.
The men’s and women’s cross country 2013 schedule was released Tuesday with approximately five weeks until the season kicks off in Bethlehem, Pa. on Aug. 31 at the Lehigh Invitational.
The Paul Short Invitational on Oct. 5 will mark the second trip to Lehigh in five weeks, while some runners may potentially take a third trip up the Northeast Extension Nov. 15 to partake in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship at host-school Lehigh, pending individual qualification.
The University of Connecticut will host the inaugural American Athletic Conference Championship on Nov. 5.
| 8/31/2013 | Lehigh Invitational | Lehigh University (Bethlehem, Pa.) | Details | |
| 9/13/2013 | Friend Big 5 Invitational (Hosted by Temple University) | Belmont Plateau (Philadelphia, Pa.) | Details | |
| 10/5/2013 | Paul Short Invitational | Lehigh University (Bethlehem, Pa.) | Details | |
| 10/19/2013 | Leopard Invitational | Lafayette College (Easton, Pa.) | Details | |
| 11/2/2013 | American Athletic Conference Championship | University of Connecticut (Storrs, Conn.) | Details | |
| 11/15/2013 | NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship | Lehigh University (Bethlehem, Pa.) | Details | |
| 11/23/2013 | IC4A Championship | Van Courtland Park (Bronx, N.Y.) | Details | |
| 11/23/2013 | NCAA Championship | Indiana State University (Terre Haute, Ind.) | Details |
The schedule for the upcoming women’s basketball season was released last week, and from the looks of it, the Owls will have their work cut out for them.
In the team’s first campaign in the American Athletic Conference, Temple will play 12 of 29 games against NCAA tournament teams from last season, including defending national champion Connecticut and runner-up Louisville.
“Obviously, this is our most challenging schedule in the history of the program and this is what you want—to play against the best and get this kind of exposure for Temple women’s basketball,” sixth-year head coach Tonya Cardoza said in a press release. “We are so excited to get started and to see what this season will bring. This schedule gives us the opportunity to bring in some terrific competition and to put people in the stands.
The conference portion of the schedule includes home-and-away matchups against Cincinnati, Central Florida, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, Southern Methodist and South Florida. The non-conference schedule includes six games against NCAA tournament teams.
The season is set to kick off on Nov. 8 against city rival La Salle.
Temple sophomore LB Tyler Matakevich was named today to the 2013 College Football Performance Awards Linebacker Watch List.
“Congratulations to Tyler Matakevich on earning a spot on the 2013 CFPA Defensive Awards Watch List,” CFPA Executive Director Brad Smith said. “Under head coach Matt Rhule, Matakevich will be one of the nation’s top linebackers to watch in 2013.”
Matakevich had a breakout season last year as a true freshman, as he was later named Big East Rookie of the Year. The Stratford, Conn. native was also named to the 2012 Football Writers Association of America Freshman All-American Team. Matakevich played in every game last season for the Owls (starting in eight), and became the first freshman in school history to record 100 tackles.
This morning, Temple men’s soccer head coach David MacWilliams announced his additions to the 2013 roster. In total, the 13-year-coach is bringing in eight freshman and three transfers, resulting in a team that will feature 11 new student-athletes this fall for their first season in the American Athletic Conference.
Freshmen Alexander Cagle, Mark Grasela, Steffan Mueller, Matt Mahoney, Miguel Polley, Robert Sagel, Vojkan Tomasevic and Dan White are among those joining the Owls, along with transfers Donovan Fraser, Jonah Williams and Anani Mohammed.
Fraser, a medical redshirt from the University of Maryland, was a two-time National Soccer Coaches Association of America High School All-American, and won the Suffolk League IV Championship all four years of his high school career. Cagle, a sex-foot-four goalkeeper was named to the Second Team All-Conference in his junior year at Brookfield East High School, when he posted a 0.366 goals against average for the season.
“I’m very excited about these prospects and the level of talent they bring to Temple,” MacWilliams said in a press release. “I really believe this i the best incoming class that I’ve had in my 13 years here and that’s no disrespect to any of the previous classes. This group of guys gives us an opportunity to compete in the American Athletic Conference immediately.”
Paige O’Sullivan
Although her four-year stint with the women’s rowing team is now complete, newly graduated Paige O’Sullivan continues to be recognized as an outstanding student-athlete. Temple announced yesterday that O’Sullivan was named to the second team all-Mid-Atlantic Region by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association, just a few weeks after the Somers Point, N.J. native was awarded first team A-10 All-Conference.
O’Sullivan, who recently received her bachelor’s degree in Therapeutic Recreation, was also the winner of the 2013 John Noisette Award—One that is presented to a Temple student each year for leadership and innovation in the therapeutic recreation field.
Additionally, last month, O’Sullivan was honored with the Temple Teammates Community Service Award for the second straight year at the university’s Breakfast of Champions.
Brandon Matthews
Freshman Brandon Matthews has been named as one of the 25 golfers selected by the Golf Coaches Association of America to be a part of the NCAA Division I PING all-Northeast Region team.
In what turned out to be a stellar rookie season with Temple, Matthews’ 72.27 stroke average was the lowest among all Atlantic 10 Conference golfers. He placed second at the A-10 Championship, earning All-Conference honors in addition to being recognized as A-10 Rookie of the Year.
Ray DeStephanis, who has served as the intramural coordinator of Temple since 2002, was honored by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Soccer Hall of Fame at the organization’s 66th annual banquet.
DeStephanis, a graduate Temple, received the Chick Fallon Award for Service to Soccer. In addition to overseeing the many intramural programs offered by Temple, DeStephanis is currently in his seventh year as head coach of the varsity soccer team at Roman Catholic High School. SEPA Hall of Fame Vice President described DeStephanis as part of the fabric that makes up the regional soccer community.
Ahead of Temple’s opening game of the 2013 football season against Notre Dame, multiple sources are reporting that Fighting Irish starting quarterback Everett Golson is no longer enrolled at the university.
Golson started 11 games last year as a redshirt-freshman, leading Notre Dame to a perfect regular season, before losing to Alabama in the BCS Championship.
WNDU-TV first reported the news of Golson’s departure, and the information was later confirmed by the university via emails to the press.
Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelley has a few options to fill the void left by Golson, with senior Tommy Rees, fourth-year junior Andrew Hendrix, and new recruit Malik Zaire all still on the roster. Rees, having the most experience, is considered the likely favorite to earn the starting quarterback spot.
That said, with less than 100 days to go until Temple makes the trip over to South Bend to face Notre Dame in a nationally televised matchup, the Fighting Irish have officially lost one of their most important pieces of last year’s championship run.
