Turnovers, defense, characterize season

Women’s Basketball- Barely a weak into the season there are two very important things to notice about this Owls team.

First, they turn the ball over a lot. Second, they know how to play defense.

This comes as a bit of a surprise because typically teams that commit a lot of errors have trouble holding the team off the scoreboard.

If you dismiss the team’s loss to Nebraska, 64-39, the Owls have held their other two opponents, both wins, to an average of 39.5 points. Temple turned the ball over 19 times against Montana and had 26 giveaways against Seton Hall.

This season they’ve allowed just .277 shooting, including .200 from three-point land. Typically an excess of turnovers—the Owls three opponents have committed just 42 turnovers to their 67—leads to easy buckets for the opposing team.

Not the case thus far for Temple, but that trend will have to change if they hope to keep winning.

-Jake Adams

Keys to the game

Five keys to the Temple-Pittsburgh game are Matt Brown’s struggles, the dichotomy of the team’s offenses, Chris Coyer’s play, the play of the defense and the battle for supremacy in the Big East.

Kick-off is set for noon, at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. Visit The Temple News at www.temple-news.com for a full in-depth summary of the keys to the game.

-Ibrahim Jacobs

Owls set to take on Virginia Tech

Temple ice hockey will be a shorthanded bunch for its Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association matchup with Virginia Tech tonight at Northeast Skatezone.

Temple (7-3) will be without two top forwards in junior Joe Pisko and freshman Jayson Marbach, as well as its starting goalie in junior Chris Mullen to suspensions due to a late-game brawl in a 5-2 loss to Rowan University last week.

Sophomore Eric Semborski will handle the goalie duties in place of Mullen.

The Owls will be looking to bounce back from their loss at Rowan last week with their first MACHA win of 2012-13. Temple is 0-2 in MACHA play this season.

The Hokies (5-4) will be looking to rebound after two consecutive losses against the University of Maryland and MACHA rival University of Maryland – Baltimore County.

Game time is set for 9:30 p.m.

-Andrew Parent

Schedule change

Temple ice hockey thought it was playing Marist College in day two of the Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association Division II showcase until a schedule change last night.

The last minute change in opposition apparently didn’t faze Temple ice hockey as the Owls knocked off Texas State University by a resounding 9-3 score.

After falling in a 2-0 hole, Temple outscored Texas State 9-1 the rest of the way en route to the win. Freshman forward Dave Brewer netted his first three goals in a Temple uniform with a hat trick, and senior defenseman Jordan Lawrence scored his first goal in almost two years.

Senior forward Sean Nealis also had his second consecutive two-goal game after going scoreless in Temple’s first five contests.

Freshman forwards Cody Vassa and Jayson Marbach also added goals for the Owls, with Vassa scoring twice.

“We had a horrific first period,” coach Jerry Roberts said.“We were down 2-0 and we turned it around in final two periods. We were disappointed in everything we did in first period, but bounced back well.

Brewer had gone scoreless in his first five Temple games before his three-goal outburst against Texas State.

“He’s by far our most underrated player,” coach Jerry Roberts said.“It was nice to see him get some recognition with the hat trick tonight and really plan on him being a big part of offensive core the next few years.”

Sophomore goalie Eric Semborskihad his first start of the weekend in net.

The Owls will face East Carolina University tomorrow at 9 p.m. for their last game of this year’s ACHA showcase.

“They’re in our conference and we haven’t played them in two years,” Roberts said. “They’re a decent team and they’re a team who is capable of beating us if we’re not committed to executing our game plan. If we do that and keep our focus throughout, we should be fine.”

-Andrew Parent

Temple-Penn State preview

After an overtime thriller victory against Montclair State University Saturday, Temple ice hockey will look to use any remaining momentum today against an ACHA Division II powerhouse in Penn State University.

PSU is coming off a 12-1 drubbing of Rider University last night in their Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association opener, and is widely thought of as the top team in Division II by many, including Temple coach Jerry Roberts.

“We are confident that we are prepared as much as we possibly can be going into a game like this,” Roberts said.“This game’s going to be a huge challenge. They’re one of the best teams in the country, but if there was a team that could knock them on their feet, it’s us.”

The Owls (4-0) will look to keep their unbeaten streak alive with a win against a Penn State team that had Temple’s number a year ago with two defeats, the latter coming in the postseason.

“The guys absolutely feel like they have something to prove against [PSU]. There’s a sense of excitement about it and the guys are looking forward to it. We want to prove last year was a fluke for us.”

Junior Chris Mullen will again get the start in net after racking up 39 saves against Montclair.

Solid goaltending along with tight defense will be a must against the Ice Lions, a team that boasts a star-studded offense from top to bottom.

“We need to keep their offense at bay,” Roberts said. “They are an aggressive offensive-minded team. They have no problems getting into shootouts and we need to play tight defensively. If we do that we’ll be just fine.”

Game time is set for 2 p.m. today at Northeast Skatezone.

-Andrew Parent

Ice hockey prepares for challenging weekend

Temple ice hockey will be tested this weekend in a pair of games with America Collegiate Hockey Association rivals Montclair State University and Penn State University at home.

Although the season is young,Coach Jerry Roberts knows that this weekend is a big one for his team.

“Both of these games this weekend are huge,” Roberts said.“There are about 10 games you circle on the schedule as a team and two of them are back to back this weekend.”

First up will be Montclair State team today that mirrors Temple in several ways, according to Roberts.

“Montclair’s going to be interesting because we’re two identical teams,” Roberts said. They went to [the ACHA Division Two National Tournament] two years ago like we did, and were completely shutout in regionals last year. Much like us, they re-tooled during the summer and got a lot better. That game’s going to be really interesting.”

Much of the weekend will hinge on the production from the Owls’ top lines, including the top forward line of freshman Jayson Marbaich, junior Joe Pisko, and senior Chris Brennan.

“We’re going to need production from that line,” Roberts said.“We’ve talked about how they’re getting really close and there’s potential there, but in order to us to be successful this weekend that line needs to be up and running.”

Senior forward Sean Nealis is back in the lineup today after sitting out Sunday at Lehigh with a shoulder injury. He will fill in for freshman forward Cody Vassa, who will sit out tonight due to a violation of team rules.

Junior goalie Chris Mullen will get the start in net.

The puck will drop at 8:30 pm at Northeast Skatezone.

-Drew Parent

Field hockey team set to take on Maryland

The field hockey team will be finishing up their road trip to the south with a game tomorrow against No. 4 Maryland (7-2).

 The Owls come in riding a four game winning streak, after a come from behind win last night against Longwood (2-8).

 Coach Amanda Janney said that her team is ready to go into College Park to play the Terrapins.

 “I think our girls are fired up for the game, and I expect us to come out strong,” Janney said.

 Maryland will be coming into Sunday’s game fresh off their second loss of the season, suffered against No. 7 Virginia.

 The Terrapins are led by juniors Ali McEvoy and Jill Witmer. McEvoy, a defender, leads the team with seven goals, and Witmer, a forward, leads the team with seven assists.

 Sophomore midfielder Nicole Kroener stressed that Temple needs to get off to an early start to beat Maryland.

 “We need to come out playing like we have been against Bucknell and Longwood in the second half,” Kroener said. “We need to start playing like that in the first half because good teams like [Maryland] are going to be able to put us away if we don’t come out in the beginning.”

 The Owls will be looking for offense from their forwards freshman Alyssa Delp and sophomore Amber Youtz. The young duo have led the Temple offense through their win streak.

The game is set to begin at 1:00 p.m. at the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex on the University of Maryland’s campus.

-Colin Tansits

Ice hockey escapes Lehigh with win

It took 65 minutes of play and a shootout, but Temple ice hockey eventually escaped Lehigh with its third win in as many games.

Freshman Dave Brewer put in the go-ahead goal in the shootout and sophomore goalie Eric Semborski made the final savefor a 3-2 shootout win over Lehigh University Sunday.

Freshman forward Greg Malinowski scored in his Temple debut to get the Owls on the board in the second period.

Lehigh then had back-to-back goals in the third, the latter goal coming with 5:09 left to play. Semborski then replaced starter Chris Mullen, who was tagged with a 10 minute game misconduct after the second Lehigh goal.

Junior forward Joe Pisko responded about a minute later with a game-tying tally that eventually forced overtime.

Malinowski and freshman forward Jason Marbaich also scored for Temple in the shootout.

Temple improved to 3-0 after the win, and capped a weekend sweep after beating the College of New Jersey 5-2 on Friday night.

Though the Owls are rolling with three straight wins to begin the season, they will be challenged next weekend when they take on Montclair State and Penn State Universities on Saturday and Sunday respectively, both at Northeast Skatezone.

Saturday’s contest is slated to start at 8:30 pm.

-Drew Parent

Women’s soccer set to take on Marist

             Following the 1-0 loss to Siena on Friday, Sept. 21, the women’s soccer team hopes to grab the second match of the weekend on Sunday, Sept. 23 against Marist at 4 pm.

            “[Marist] is a team that likes to get in your face a lot,” coach Matt Gwilliam said. “To this point, they have had a great season.”

            The Owls will look to grab their first win of the season on the road, as well as their first win since Sept. 7, when they faced Iona at the Ambler Sports Complex.

-John Murrow

            Since the 1-0 win against Iona at home, the Owls have been shutout in four straight matches, three of which resulted in 1-0 losses and one match which ended in a 0-0 tie.

            On the year, Marist has 16 goals in comparison to Temple’s 4 this season. The problem for the Owls is not the defense, but it is scoring the ball when the team has their opportunities, Gwilliam said.

            “We have our defense down,” freshman goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff said. “We are creating chances but we just are not finishing.”

            “Marist is in the process of building their program,” Gwilliam added. “They have been riding some good results this season.”

            Entering Sunday’s match, Temple enters with a 2-6-2 record and an 0-4-1 record on the road. Marist will begin Sunday’s match with a record of 6-4-0 and 3-0-0 record when playing at home.

            “Marist is another good team on our schedule and I expect a good competition,” Kerkhoff said.

            For the Owls, the team will have their last chance at a non-conference opponent against Marist before the Atlantic-10 conference matches begin on Saturday, Sept. 29 against Saint Joseph’s at the Ambler Sports Complex.

McCarthy signs with Italian team

Former Owl Kristen McCarthy will be playing professional ball overseas.

The 2012 graduate signed with Club Atletico Faenza, in Italy, a team that finished sixth in their league last season.

McCarthy joins fellow 2012 graduate Shey Peddy, and 2011 graduate Qwedia Wallace as recent Owls to make the transition to the pro level. Peddy was drafted in the second round by the Chicago Sky of the WNBA in April while Wallace is also overseas.

The combo guard/forward ranks fourth all-time at Temple with 1,619 points in 131 games (most all time), and holds the single-game record with 42 points against Charlotte as a sophomore.

She was an integral of the team’s three consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Tonya Cardoza and company return to action in November in their final season in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

-Jake Adams