VASCONEZ OUT FOR SEASON

Senior tennis player Hernan Vasconez will miss his final season of eligibility after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament during the winter break.

The injury occurred while practicing and getting ready for the upcoming semester’s season in his hometown of Ambato, Ecuador, a university spokesman confirmed last Tuesday.

The lone senior on the team has amassed a 33-31 record in singles play and a 22-19 record in doubles during his three-and-a-half years of competition for the team.

-Dalton Balthaser

GOLF’S SPRING SCHEDULE RELEASED

Temple’s spring schedule will consist of five tournaments prior to the American Athletic Conference Championships, coach Brian Quinn announced last Friday.

The team will kick off spring competition with the Middleburg Bank Intercollegiate from March 22-24 in Williamsburg, Virginia, while the Furman Intercollegiate in Greenville, South Carolina will take place a week later, spanning from March 27-29.

Three April tournaments will follow in weekly succession, includin g the Princeton Invitational April 11-12. The team will conclude its season at the conference championship, held April 25-28 at the Black Diamond Range on The Quarry Course in Lecanto, Florida.

The Owls highlighted their fall season with a fourth-place result out of 19 schools at the Hartford Invitational on Sept. 22-23, along with the top finish at the Temple Invitational Oct. 11-12 in Huntingdon Valley.

-Andrew Parent

ROWING PENS SIX RECRUITS

Last Thursday, coach Rebecca Grzybowski announced the signing of six rowers who will make up the program’s 2014 recruiting class.

High school seniors Emma Alford (Grosse lle, Michigan), Catie Gackowski (Midland Park, New Jersey), Mariel Tucker (Pottstown), Jenna Rosado (Northfield, New Jersey), Allie Nussbaum (Andover, Massachusetts) and Rachel Kelley (Somers Point, New Jersey) will join the team for the 2015-16 season.

“We are thrilled to welcome Emma, Catie, Rachel, Allie, Jenna and Mariel to Temple and to our team,” Grzybowski said via press release. “Without question, this is our best recruiting class to date and we are confident that they will make an immediate impact.”

Tucker, the lone Pennsylvania product of the group, competed for Vesper Boat Club alongside her time competing for Owen J. Roberts High School. She has competed both at the club nationals and the Royal Candian Henley Regatta, while she finished fifth with a 2,000 ergometer score at the Mainline Slide Event as a junior at Owen J. Roberts last year.

-Andrew Parent

BOWLES NAMED JETS HEAD COACH

On Jan. 14, the NFL’s New York Jets announced the hire of Temple alumnus Todd Bowles as its head coach.

Bowles, 51, spent the past two seasons as the defensive coordinator for the Arizona Cardinals, while coaching in the same role for the Philadelphia Eagles under former coach Andy Reid in 2012.

Bowles amassed 245 tackles and seven interceptions during a four-year playing career with Temple, and spent the bulk of his eight-year NFL career with the Washington Redskins before switching over to the coaching ranks

He was given his first NFL coaching job with the Jets in 2000, when he was in charge of the team’s secondary.

-Andrew Parent

The eighth Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll has the Owls in the No. 16 spot for the third straight week, while remaining at No. 13 in the NCAA’s RPI (ratings percentage index) rankings.

Temple (13-5, 3-1 Big East conference) beat Georgetown and Lafayette last weekend via back-to-back 4-0 shutouts. The team’s last game before postseason play will be at home against No. 4 UConn Saturday at 1 p.m.

UConn (13-2 overall) is 4-0 in conference play and winner of it last seven. The Owls, meanwhile, have gone on a 6-2 run since conference play opened back on Oct. 3, and have won their last three contests.

Temple will be seeded no lower than third in the Big East tournament, regardless of what happens on Saturday. But a win against the Huskies could make them the top seed heading into the postseason.

Redshirt senior goalkeeper Lizzy Millen and senior forward Amber Youtz earned individual honors for Temple’s 2-0 start this past weekend.

Millen has been named the Big East Defensive Player of the Week, and Youtz has been named to the conference’s weekly honor roll.

Millen made five saves in the Owls’ opening matchups, posting a .833 save percentage.

She made two saves and allowed one goal in 63:23 of play in a 4-2 win against Northeastern on Friday night. On Sunday, Millen recorded three saves in Temple’s 2-0 shutout of former Atlantic 10 rival University of Massachusetts.

The Whitehall, Pennsylvania native started every game for the Owls last season, putting up a .766 save percentage, with a 2.03 goals against average and five shutouts.

Youtz, meanwhile, scored two goals in the win against Northeastern and one against UMass. She led the Owls in scoring the past two seasons, with 16 goals and 39 points in 2013, and 22 goals and 54 points in 2012.

Junior cornerback Tavon Young was awarded American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of Week for his breakout performance Thursday night against Vanderbilt.

Young had two interceptions and two tackles in his first game of the 2014 campaign, more interceptions than he had all of last year.

Young’s practice performance heading into the opener earned him the number one jersey, a jersey weekly given out to the toughest guy of the week.

Defensive captain and starting linebacker Tyler Matakeich believes Young’s performance is just an example of he’s capable of.

“[Tavon] has got a nose for the ball, he makes plays,” Matakevich said. “He showed it,  it was a big stage and he just went out there and played his game.”

In addition to Young, starting quarterback P.J. Walker earned honorable mention for his 2 touchdown, 207 yard performance.

In order to prepare for Vanderbilt’s new coach Derek Mason, a former Stanford defensive coordinator, coach Matt Rhule and his staff inadvertently learned more about Pac-12 than the Commodore’s conference itself.

“I’ve been studying Stanford a lot,” Rhule said. “I probably know more about the Pac-12 than any other conference watching Stanford.”

The Owls will be the first to match up against the new-look 3-4 defense that was so successful underneath the regime of Mason and now NFL head coach Jim Harbaugh.

Much like the 2013 Owls, the Commodores began training camp with an open competition for quarterback, eventually claimed by top 2013 contributor sophomore quarterback Patton Robinette.

Robinette, a dual-threat quarterback, will test the Owls defense, which allowed 473.6 yards per game in 2013.

Players to watch

Temple:

 Offense: P.J. Walker QB

Heading into the year as an incumbent starter, Walker has set the bar for himself higher as a passer. With the third highest passer efficiency rating (150.8) in the American, Walker has already shown the ability to deliver the ball.

Despite only throwing seven interceptions to twenty touchdowns in his six games, Walker appeared careless with the football, with seven fumbles on the year.

Walker will also have the advantage of starting the season against a Commodore’s defensive backfield that is returning none of its starters from last year and set to start three underclassmen at both corner spots as well as strong safety.

 Defense: Sean Chandler CB

                Coming off an impressive camp with numerous interceptions in scrimmage play, slot cornerback Sean Chandler could very well prove to be a playmaker.

                While being the slot corner behind senior Anthony Robey and junior Tavon Young,Chandler should see plenty of playing time facing up against the Commodore’s West Coast style offense.

Vanderbilt

Offense: Patton Robinette QB

                Robinette, who recorded  four touchdowns and five interceptions in limited time, will look to use his big 6-foot-4, 214-pound frame to exploit a relatively inexperienced Temple secondary.

Robinson, who spent his 2013 season mostly as a backup, will need a strong performance in order to retain the starting position he won during camp.

Defense: Caleb Azubike

Azubike, who is coming off a season where he posted 31 total tackles, is expected to flourish in Mason’s 3-4 scheme.

Expected to line up as a 6-foot-4, 260-pound outside linebacker with 4.65 40-yard speed, Azubike’s physical tools mixed with Mason’s unknown scheme for him will make for an interesting matchup against Azubike and offensive tackles Eric Lofton and Dion Dawkins.

It was a tale of two opposite seasons for women’s soccer last year.

After enjoying a non-conference schedule in which the Owls won their first four contests and finished 5-3-1, the Owls struggled through American Athletic Conference play, finishing 1-8 and bowing out of 2013 on a nine-game losing streak.

Coach Seamus O’Connor hopes his team will adjust to the competitiveness of one of what he feels is one of the nation’s strongest soccer conferences in The American.

“It was just such a transition from the [Atlantic 10 Conference], and being my first year coaching here,” O’Connor said.  “It’s a different kind of athlete [in this conference].”

The area that hurt the Owls the most last season was their offense. Scoring only 0.89 goals per game, Temple finished 259th in the nation in that category.

O’Connor said the recruiting for this fall was focused on fixing that exact problem.

“We added at least four starters that can come in on the attacking side,” O’Connor said.  “Our numbers were good defensively … but we just weren’t able to put some goals away.”

A large reason Temple enjoyed success on the defensive side of the ball was goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff.  The sophomore recorded seven shutouts and impressed with 15 saves in a 3-1 loss against Connecticut on Oct. 11.

“Shauni was, for me, easily the best goalie in the conference last year,” O’Connor said.  “I don’t know how she wasn’t selected, because her stats were phenomenal.”

Kerkhoff, along with the rest of the defense, will need to remain strong in a conference where, “every stinkin’ team is good”, O’Connor added.

In terms of where he would like his team to sit by the end of the season, O’Connor said improvement is the primary goal.

“We always want to get better,” O’Connor said.  “I don’t like putting a number on it, but it depends.  Like any other sport, how are we injury-wise?  How do we gel?

“Because each year is a new team … this year,” O’Connor added, “I feel there’s a lot more options and depth, so I do feel it’s going to be a better year for us.”

On Dec. 6, roughly 200 student-athletes were given the news that some would be playing their program’s final games in their following season. The aftermath was five months of advocating, fundraising and partial salvation.

However, as of July 1, the baseball, softball, men’s gymnastics and men’s indoor and outdoor track & field programs officially disappeared from Temple athletics.

Crew and Rowing, who were originally a part of the teams to be cut, evaded the decision following financial assistance from H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest and funding from the city.

Men’s gymnastics, while no longer a varsity Temple sport, will continue as a club sport, but will lose all scholarships and a sizeable amount of funding.

Temple’s cuts have continued the alarming precedent set by other ailing Division I programs who have opted to drop sports teams in order to free up money to fund higher revenue sports such as football and basketball.

E.J. Smith can be reached at esmith@temple.edu or on Twitter at @ejsmitty17.