Author Archives: Evan Cross

Harris signs with CFL’s Tiger-Cats

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After trying out with multiple NFL teams, former Temple running back Montel Harris has signed a contract with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League.

Harris had tryouts with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Philadelphia Eagles, not making either team. He becomes the second former Owl RB to sign a CFL deal this offseason, following Matt Brown, who signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders last week.

Harris spent four years at Boston College from 2008 to 2011, only fulfilling three years of eligibility due to a knee injury in his junior year. He transferred to Temple for his final year of eligibility after being dismissed from Boston College. In his one season at Temple, he rushed for 1,054 yards and 12 TDs with five 100+ yard games.

Brown is now the sixth former Owl to be under contract with a CFL team, along with Brown, QB Henry Burris (Hamilton Tiger-Cats), RB Tim Brown (B.C. Lions), DL Elisha Joseph (Calgary Stampeders) and LB Dominique Harris (Hamilton Tiger-Cats).

Two Owls named to Steele’s All-American teams

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Sophomore linebacker Tyler Matakevich was named to Phil Steele’s 2013 preseason All-American Athletic Conference first team on Tuesday.

Matakevich was one of two Owls to make it onto one of Steele’s four teams. Junior defensive back Anthony Robey was named one of the fourth-team cornerbacks.

With 112 slots to fill (12 offense, 12 defense and four special teams on each team), only having two players named total is not a good showing for the Owls. Every other team has at least nine representatives, and five of them had 12 or more players. Louisville leads the way with 18 players on the four teams, including seven on the first team alone.

On the other hand, a first team appearance is an accomplishment for Matakevich, who, at this time last year, was a little-known freshman. Matakevich was the 2012 Big East Conference Rookie of the Year and was named to the 2012 Freshman All-America team. He had 101 tackes in his freshman season.

Former UMass guard taking Temple summer classes

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The Temple News has confirmed an OwlScoop.com report that former Massachusetts guard Jesse Morgan has enrolled in summer classes at Temple.

Morgan has one remaining season of eligibility. If he is cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse, he could use it to join the Owls.

Morgan, an Olney High School graduate, just finished up his junior year of college, in which he averaged 13.4 points in 28.7 minutes per game. He was the Minutemen’s second-leading scorer behind junior guard Chaz Williams..

Morgan has not played since January, when he suffered a torn ACL in a loss to Saint Louis. It is unclear if he will be fully healed in time for the 2013-14 season. He reportedly left UMass for disciplinary reasons.

Another former Hoosier added to Temple Athletic Department

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Pat Kraft was named Temple’s newest Deputy Director of Athletics on Wednesday afternoon.

Kraft, most recently the Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director at Loyola University Chicago, will serve under Interim Athletic Director Kevin Clark. In two years at Loyola, Kraft directly managed the external operations of the athletic department. This included marketing, fundraising, ticket sales and media relations.

Before going to Loyola, Kraft worked on the senior athletic staff at Indiana University, where he oversaw all branding and marketing aspects of the teams. He holds three degrees from Indiana: a bachelor’s degree in sports marketing/management earned in 2000, a master’s degree in sports marketing/administration earned in 2005 and a doctorate in sports marketing earned in 2008. As an undergraduate, he was a linebacker on Indiana’s football team.

Kraft, along with Clark, is the second former Hoosier to be hired to the athletic department since Neil Theobald took office in January.

Evan Cross can be reached at evan.cross@temple.edu or on Twitter @EvanCross.

Brown signs with CFL team

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Former Temple running back Matt Brown has signed a contract with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League.

Brown becomes the sixth former Temple player to sign a rookie deal with a professional team this spring. The other five are RB Montel Harris (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), OL Martin Wallace (Cleveland Browns), DE John Youboty (Denver Broncos), DB Maurice Jones (Chicago Bears) and K/P Brandon McManus (Indianapolis Colts).

In a four-year career, Brown, at 5 feet, 5 inches, racked up many honors and records. He was named the 2012 Big East Conference Special Teams Player of the Year, and was on the All-Big East first team as the return specialist. He holds school records for punt return average in a season (14.2 in 2012) and kick return yards in a single game (227 on November 3, 2012 against Louisville). He finished his career second in school history in all-purpose yards with 5,272, third in rushing touchdowns with 22 and fourth in 100+ yard rushing performances with 10.

Brown is now the fifth former Owl to be under contract with a CFL team, joining QB Henry Burris (Hamilton Tiger-Cats), RB Tim Brown (B.C. Lions), DL Elisha Joseph (Calgary Stampeders) and LB Dominique Harris (Hamilton Tiger-Cats).

Women’s tennis ninth in A-10

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The women’s tennis team drew the ninth seed in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament this weekend in Charlottesville, Va. They will play the eighth-seeded Saint Louis Billikens on Thursday, April 18 at 3 p.m.

The Owls finished the regular season with a 9-13 record (3-6 A-10). They have won four of their past five matches.

Three Owls ended the regular season with winning singles records. Sophomore Rebecca Breland leads the way with a 14-6 record in the spring. Junior Jordan Batey is 12-6, and junior Alicia Doms is 12-8. Doms is the likely top flight player, while Breland, Batey, and junior Yana Mavrina (8-12 this spring) will fill flights two through four in some order.

Three players will compete for the final two flights: Junior Carly Bohman (2-8), sophomore Ama Osei (4-11), and freshman Minami Okajima (9-9). Okajima and Bohman have been getting the fifth and sixth flight spots, respectively, in recent matches.

In doubles, Temple’s top two teams are Breland and Mavrina (11-5), and Batey and Doms (9-7). Okajima will team up with either Osei or Bohman for the third team. Okajima and Osei are 1-4, while Okajima and Bohman are 1-5.

The Billikens (12-7, 2-1 A-10) are led by junior Stephanie Hollis. Hollis is 12-5 in singles this spring, all in the top flight. Every player that Saint Louis has sports a winning singles record.

Temple and Saint Louis last played at the 2011 A-10 Championships, when Saint Louis won 4-3. Doms and Hollis, likely opponents in the top flight, faced each other in the fourth flight. Hollis won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.

The winner of this match will face the winner of top-seeded Virginia Commonwealth and #16 La Salle on Friday at 10:00 a.m

Women’s tennis to close season at Binghamton

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The women’s tennis team will play its last match of the regular season, and its fourth match in five days, Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. against Binghamton at the TU Pavilion.

The Owls (8-13, 3-6 Atlantic 10 Conference) will look to close out their season winning four of their last five. The Bearcats (4-15, 1-4 America East Conference) have only won one of their past 12 matches.

Junior Alicia Doms is currently dealing with elbow tendinitis. She said it is not very painful, but it will not fully heal until she rests it for a month. It is not affecting her play too much: she is 4-1 in her past five singles matches.

After playing flight six all season, freshman Minami Okajima has played fifth flight for the past three matches. She is 2-1, and has earned praise from teammates on her improved play over the course of the season. She has also won her only doubles match that was finished in that span, coming down from a 6-3 deficit to win 8-6 with junior Carly Bohman.

Binghamton’s best player is freshman Sara Kohtz, who is 8-8 in dual meet play this season. Kohtz has played all of her matches in the top three flights, and sports a 5-2 record in flight two. She is winless in four matches at the top flight.

Women’s tennis to take on Villanova

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The women’s tennis team will play their first on-campus match of the year, taking on Big 5 rival Villanova Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the Student Pavilion.

The Owls (6-12, 2-6 Atlantic 10 Conference) broke a five-match losing streak after defeating Quinnipiac on Sunday. The Wildcats (6-10, 0-3 Big East Conference) also recently snapped a losing streak, getting their first win in four tries against Saint Francis of Pa. on Sunday.

Temple’s best players this spring have been junior Jordan Batey and sophomore Rebecca Breland. Playing from the first to the fifth flights, Batey has amassed a 10-5 record in singles play and has not lost more than one match in a row. Breland, playing everywhere from the second to the fifth flight, is 7-0 in flights two and three.

The Owls have not won a doubles point in the past six matches, despite the two main doubles teams – Bater and junior Alicia Doms, and Breland and junior Yana Mavrina – both having winning records. Batey/Doms is 7-5, and Breland/Mavrina is 8-4. Winning doubles would have swung matches against Xavier and Fordham, and the Owls defeated Qunnipiac despite losing doubles. If Temple can get the doubles point, its match will be a lot easier.

Men’s tennis travels to La Salle

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The men’s tennis team will take on La Salle on Thursday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. in Olney, Pa.

The Owls (4-9, 2-3 Atlantic 10 Conference) will look to extend their two-match winning streak. The Explorers (7-5, 0-2 A-10) are on a three-match losing streak.

Since senior Kacper Rams will not be playing, the top flight singles spot will be up for grabs. Sophomores Kristian Marquart and Hernan Vasconez have played there in the last two matches, each losing in straight sets.

Rams’ injury has opened up playing time for freshman Maros Januvka. He has played top-flight doubles in each of the past two matches with Vasconez. Despite losing both matches, coach Steve Mauro has said Januvka is impressing in practice, and deserves the opportunity.

Marquart and his doubles partner, freshman Sam Rundle, have been doing well lately. In the last nine matches, the duo is 5-2 with two incomplete matches. They defeated Morgan State’s team of freshman Evan Ward and junior Jannick Tash 8-5.

Men’s tennis to take on Morgan State

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The men’s tennis team will take on Morgan State tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. at Fossler’s Cheltenham Tennis in Elkins Park.

The Owls (3-9, 2-3 Atlantic 10 Conference) are coming off their first win after a nine-match losing streak against Fordham on Sunday, March 24. The Bears (4-14, 3-0 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) have dropped two matches in a row.

Senior Kacper Rams will not play against Temple due to injury. Sophomore Kristian Marquart took Rams’ place as the top singles player against Fordham, falling 6-4, 6-1. Marquart is 2-9 on the season, all in the top 3 flights.

The only Owl with a winning record this spring is freshman Nicolas Paulus. He is 7-5, including a 2-0 record at the third flight.

Morgan State’s best player is sophomore Duk Young-Park. Young-Park is 9-8 on the season, including a 6-2 record in the top singles flight. He has won four straight matches.