Denver match cancelled to snow

Temple will no longer be playing on Friday against the University of Denver due to poor field conditions. The game was canceled at 3 p.m. after close to three inches of snow accumulated on the field with more expected to come.

It is possible that the match will be played Saturday if Denver’s flight back to Colorado Friday night is canceled. If not, the Owls will play next at home against the University of Florida on Saturday, March 28 to start off Big East Conference play.

Temple currently holds a five-game winning streak and an 8-1 record.

-Matt Cockayne

Players earn weekly awards

Temple’s Nicole Tiernan and Jaqi Kakalecik earned half of the four Big East Conference weekly awards this past week. Tiernan, a junior forward from Washington Township, New Jersey, was named the conference’s midfielder of the week, while Kakalecik, a junior goalie hailing from Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, took home the defensive player of the week honor.

Leading the Temple offense, Tiernan scored seven goals during the week of spring break, including a career-high five-goal effort against Wagner College on March 4.

Kakalecik was a big part of Temple’s two-win week, as well, securing both wins in goal and tying a career high with 10 saves against Iona College.

-Matt Cockayne

Owls top Lafayette in bounce-back victory

Temple didn’t need its usual late-game heroics to beat Lafayette College on Saturday. The Owls won, 17-7, thanks in large part to a 10-0 goal run that extended from the first to the second half.

Junior midfielder Nicole Tiernan, who notched her second consecutive hat trick against the Leopards, opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game. Lafayette responded with a 4-1 run that put it up by two goals with just under 11 minutes left in the half.

It was all Owls from there on out. Junior midfielder Megan Tiernan’s first goal of the game at 10:40 started a streak of 10 goals that blew the game open. Within that stretch, eight different players scored, including two from junior Megan Tiernan, two from junior attacker Avery Longstaff and one from freshman attacker Nicole Barretta.

The streak ended when Lafayette sophomore attacker Ashley Tedesco scored with 18:52 left in regulation. After surrendering its first goal in almost 22 minutes, Temple ended the game on a 5-2 run, clinching the 17-7 win and its fourth win on the season.

The Owls’ dominance of possession marked a critical factor in the game, as they secured 19 draw controls after struggling in that department in its blowout loss to Cornell last weekend.

Temple (4-1) will travel to New York next week to play Wagner College in Staten Island on Wednesday and Iona College in New Rochelle on Friday.

-Matt Cockayne

Tiernan named to all-conference preseason team

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 on 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

Midfielder Tiernan invited to US National Team Tryout

After a strong sophomore season, Nicole Tiernan has a shot at making the U.S. Women’s National Team.

Tiernan received an invitation, along with 83 other players, to a three-day tryout at Georgetown University from June 13 to 15. Roughly 36 to 40 players will be selected to the squad from there.

The speedy midfielder ranked second on the Owls in scoring, recording 29 goals and four assists in 2014, along with 13 caused turnovers. She was also named to the All-Big East Second Team at the end of the season.

After selections are made, the team will train in preparation for the 2017 Federation of International Lacrosse Women’s World Cup in Surrey, England, where a roster of 18 players will represent the U.S.

“I am so excited for Nicole to have this opportunity,” coach Bonnie Rosen said in a press release. “She is just beginning to realize how great of a lacrosse player she can be and I am thrilled that she will get the chance this weekend to compete against, play with, and learn from the best players in the country.

“I am so proud of Nicole for being willing to go after this dream and I, along with all of her coaches and teammates, wish her the best of luck this weekend,” Rosen added.

The National Team is led by Georgetown head coach Georgetown Ricky Fried, as it looks to go for a third consecutive World Cup title.

This is the first time the team has held tryouts via invite-only.

-Nick Tricome

Postseason hunt continues for lacrosse

The Owls (3-3 Big East Conference) are still vying for a spot in the Big East tournament, and them clinching a spot will come down to the very end.

Louisville (6-0 Big East) and Georgetown (5-1 Big East) already have the No.1 and No. 2 seeds locked up, while Connecticut (4-2 Big East) has a spot in the tournament secured. The Huskies, however, still have to see whether they’ll be the No. 3 or No. 4 seed.

This leaves Temple in in a fight for the final spot with Villanova (3-3 Big East) and Rutgers (2-4 Big East).

The Owls will play Rutgers on Friday night, and Villanova will play UConn the next day.

If Temple wins and Villanova loses, the Owls are in. The opposite result sends the Wildcats to the tournament instead.

Any other scenario will put Temple and Villanova in a three-team tie with either UConn or Rutgers.

Should Temple and Villanova both lose their regular season finales, they will be tied with Rutgers for fourth in the Big East, with each team holding a 3-4 record.

All three teams lost to Louisville, Georgetown and UConn, and beat Marquette and Cincinnati. As a result, the tiebreaker will be determined by goal differential. The numbers aren’t set just yet, so the differentials won’t be calculated until both games are played.

If Temple and Villanova both win their final games, it puts them in a three-way tie with UConn for the third seed.  In this scenario, all three teams would be 1-1 against each other. Villanova lost to Temple but would have beaten UConn, Temple lost to UConn but beat Villanova, and UConn beat Temple but lost to Villanova.

The tiebreaker would once again go to scoring differential. In instances such as Temple’s 19-3 win over Cincinnati on April 13, only a maximum of seven goals would count towards the differential.

Through the first six conference games for each team, UConn is plus-9, Rutgers is minus-3, and Temple and Villanova are each minus-7.

Rutgers would be eliminated in this situation, giving UConn the three seed and leaving Temple and Villanova in a head-to-head tiebreaker for the fourth seed. Because the Owls beat the Wildcats back on April 5, they would gain the advantage in the tiebreaker and clinch the fourth seed.

The Owls’ regular season finale at Rutgers starts at 7 p.m. on Friday night, and Villanova’s last game at UConn will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Lacrosse to face Duquesne in opener

Temple (9-7, 4-3 Atlantic 10 Conference) will travel to Amherst, MA, to open the A-10 tournament with a semifinal matchup against Duquesne (10-6, 5-2 A-10) at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.

After losing to Richmond in their final regular season game, the Owls won a three-way tiebreaker to capture the No. 3 seed in the postseason tournament. The Owls had begun the conference schedule with a perfect 3-0 record, but since then have gone 1-3. Each of Temple’s three conference losses have come at no more than two goals.

Senior midfielders Stephany Parcell and Charlotte Swavola have continued to shoulder the load on offense for Temple, averaging nearly six combined goals per conference game. Parcell and Swavola’s offensive production accounts for nearly half of the Owls’ 13 goals per A-10 matchup.

At goalie, senior Meghan Clothier will try to rebound after coming off one of her worst statistical games of the year, allowing her season-high 16 goals on the 24 shots that she faced.

The Dukes ended their regular season defeating three of their last four conference opponents. Duquesne earned the No. 2 seed in the A-10 tournament, after a 16-6 loss to No. 12 UMass. In each of their five conference victories, the Dukes have held opponents under double digit goal totals, outscoring all five 71-21.

The 2012 A-10 rookie of year winner, sophomore midfielder Amanda Kidder, leads the Dukes in goals, total points, shot attempts, ground balls, and caused turnovers.

Among goalies who started and played in all seven conference games, Duquesne junior Kristen Gregory is ranked at the top of the save percentage category, with .518.

In the regular season contest, Temple traveled to Pittsburgh and defeated Duquesne 16-9.

Parcell and Swavola combined for nine total goals, matching the entire Dukes’ offense. Kidder netted more than half of Duquesne’s goals, recording five.

One of the Owls’ keys to victory against the Dukes in the regular season game was a 37-24 advantage in shot attempts, but Duquesne’s fouls and eight yellow cards, also led to several man-up and free position situations for Temple.

The winner of this game will face the winner of the other semifinal matchup between No.1 seed UMass Minutewomen and No. 4 seed George Washington Colonials.

Lacrosse seniors reflect on final home game

On Senior Day, the lacrosse team would have liked to end the season on a winning note.  Such was not the case, however, as the Owls fell to Richmond 16-15 on Sunday, April 21.

Appropriately, two seniors led the way in scoring, with Stephany Parcell scoring four goals and Charlotte Swavola scoring three.  Parcell and Swavola each recorded an assist as well.

Parcell showed her competitive spirit when it came to losing by such a small margin.

“We were undefeated until today,” she said. “Scoring goals is good, but if you can’t score enough, you can’t win the game.  It would have been nice if I could have had one more, or the team could have had another one.  Two more would have won that game.”

Swavola displayed a similar attitude in describing her expectation for Senior Day.

“If we would have won, I would have said ‘no,’ but you always say things that you take back,” she said. ” The other team was good.  I did a couple of things that I wanted to do, but it’s not a win.  It’s not exactly what I wanted.”

Coach Bonnie Rosen was not discouraged by the loss.

“It was a good, hard fought effort, and all year, different people step up at different times, and we continue to see that growth,” she said. “I think the game has the ability to prepare us more for the A- 10 Tournament then, maybe, an easier win.”

Lacrosse looks to collect conference win

Returning to Geasey Field after three straight road games, the Temple Owls (8-6,3-2) will host Atlantic-10 Conference foe, George Washington Colonials (8-6,3-2), Friday at 3:30 pm.

The regular season is coming to a close and both teams will try to make a push for inclusion in the A-10 tournament. Though a loss would not eliminate either team from tournament play, a victory on Friday would clinch a winning conference record and likely, a postseason berth.

Temple goes into Friday’s matchup after collecting two straight conference losses. In their last game against LaSalle, the Owls surrendered an eight point lead and were defeated in the closing seconds 14-13. After beginning the A-10 schedule with three straight victories, allowing 18 total goals, Temple has allowed 26 goals in it’s two losses.

Since the conference schedule opened, senior midfielders Stephany Parcell and Charlotte Swavola have been ranked among the top 10 in goals, assists, and total points, within the A-10. Parcell has also averaged a goal in each of the five A-10 games, leading in the category during that span.

George Washington will also look to rebound from a one point loss, after falling to Duquesne 6-5. The Colonials’ offense is led by the combination of sophomore midfielder Jamie Bumgardner and senior attacker Nicole Lacey, who account for 83 of their team’s 212 total points. Bumgardner leads the A-10 with 33 assists and Lacey has netted a team-high 31 goals.

At goalie, senior Jess Hicks had started every game for George Washington. In her 14 starts, Hicks had allowed slightly more than nine goals per game and has recorded a total of 89 saves.

In 2012, Temple traveled to Washington, D.C and fell to the Colonials in overtime, 14-13.

This year, the game between Temple and George Washington will be played at Geasey Field where the Owls are 5-0. The Owls boast the highest average home attendance with 281 per game and have a winning margin of nearly eight goals.

Owls and Minutewomen to compete for first

With first place in the Atlantic-10 Conference on the line, the Temple Owls (8-4,3-0 A-10) will travel to Amherst, MA to face the #13/10 University of Massachusetts Minutewomen (11-2,3-0 A-10) on Friday at 4pm.

Since ending their non-conference schedule with a string of lopsided losses, the Owls have started their A-10 schedule with three consecutive victories against St.Joseph’s, St. Bonaventure, and Duquesne. Temple has outscored its first three A-10 opponents 41-18.

In the three game span, the hot Owls offense have been led by senior midfielder Charlotte Swavola, who has scored 12 goals and three assists. Swavola’s 15 total points leads the conference.

Fellow senior midfielder Stephany Parcell has also found herself amongst the top conference scorers, scoring an average of four points per A-10 game.

After being awarded her first career A-10 Defender of the Week award, Meghan Clothier comes into Friday’s matchup average six saves and allowing 6.80 goals versus A-10 opponents.

Massachusetts has continued its dominance over conference opponents, recently defeating Richmond in overtime for the Minutewomen’s 22nd consecutive victory against the A-10. Nationally, the Minutewomen rank in the top ten of several statistical categories such as scoring offense, draw controls, scoring margin, and caused turnovers.

A-10 Player of the Week, junior midfielder Katie Ferris, will attempt to make Massachusetts history against Temple by adding to her 226 career goals and gaining sole ownership of the record for most goals scored in program history. In 12 games this season, Ferris has averaged 4.67 points per game, which leads the A-10.

Taking advantage of fouls and yellow cards will be key for the Owls in Friday’s matchup. Scoring goals during man up situations has been one of the major differences in the Owls’ recent streak.

In eight non-conference games, the Owls scored three man-up goals. In three A-10 matchups, Temple has a total of seven goals in such situations. In conference play, Massachusetts has averaged 27.67 fouls per game, which is tied for first place. The Minutewomen also rank amongst the top teams in the nation in yellow cards.

In the last game of the 2012 regular season, Massachusetts eliminated Temple’s chances at an A-10 tournament berth, defeating the Owls 13-7.

The last time Temple defeated Massachusetts in the regular season or postseason was in 2008. The Owls defeated the Minutewomen during the 2008 regular season and defeated Massachusetts in the A-10 tournament final, claiming the A-10 crown in Amherst. This season, the A-10 championship will take place in Amherst for the first time since 2008.

-Brien Edwards