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.

Notre Dame loses quarterback, as Temple matchup approaches

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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.

Temple to host first ever Harrow Cup

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The inaugural Harrow Cup will take place June 8 and 9 at the Owls’ own Geasey Field, where six teams will compete for a $10,000 winner-takes-all cash prize.

The Harrow Cup is a women’s field hockey tournament organized exclusively for post-collegiate women. Mark Hayden, the leader of Harrow Sports, was inspired to create the event during the 2012 National Field Hockey Festival in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Head coach Amanda Janney and assistant coach Charise Yount will represent the Owls, playing together for the Vipers. In addition, graduate assistant coach Kelly Driscoll will be a goalkeeper for the Tembos, while alumni Alli Lokey, Erin Hanshue, and Bridget Settles will also participate.

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).

Frain named ice hockey head coach

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Ryan Frain will once again be the face of Temple ice hockey, only this time in a different capacity.

The former standout player turned assistant coach has been named the new head coach of Temple’s ice hockey club, it was announced Monday.

Seniors Joe Pisko, Kurt Noce, Nick McMahon and Chris Mullen headed a search committee and made the decision for the club, which finished 17-12 overall last season and missed the American Collegiate Hockey Association Regional Tournament for the second consecutive season.

Frain was a standout on the ice for five seasons (2006-11) and stands as the club’s all-time leader in goals, assists, points and games played. He spent two years as an assistant under former coach Jerry Roberts, who resigned in Feburary.

Frain will get his first taste of head coaching when the team reassembles for tryouts in early September.

Lacrosse to face Duquesne in opener

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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

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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.”

Baseball hosts Villanova in non-conference tilt

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Coming off of three consecutive losses to Rhode Island this past weekend, Temple will host Villanova at Skip Wilson Field on Tuesday, April 23 at 3:00 p.m.

The match-up will mark freshman pitcher Connor Staskey’s first start of his collegiate career, who has appeared in 11 games for the Owls this season. The freshman left-handed pitcher has a record of 3-0 with a 4.05 ERA in 13.1 innings pitched.

“[Staskey] was a starting pitcher in high school,” coach Ryan Wheeler said. “He has been in the bullpen this season, but he has earned this start on Tuesday.”

Wheeler hopes that the Owls can provide Staskey with some run support, as Temple scored just three runs in three games against the Rams this past weekend.

“We are a team looking to continue to compete and improve each day,” Wheeler said. “Regardless of our record and how season has gone, everyday is a chance to learn and get better. This past weekend was tough for us but we pitched and played defense very well. We just need to get back on track offensively.”

The Owls will need to replace senior second baseman Jordan Queja, who broke his arm after a hit-by-pitch this past weekend and will miss the rest of the season. Wheeler said he expects senior Elijah Yarborough and freshman Sean Arnott to split time at second base for the remainder of the season.

On the season, the Owls have played better while they are on their home turf. As the home team, Temple is 7-4, compared to 6-13 when playing away from Skip Wilson Field.

Entering Tuesday’s match-up, Wheeler said he expects his players to want more out of a Temple team that dropped in the Atlantic-10 Conference standings following the Rhode Island sweep. While Tuesday is not a conference game, the game will its own bragging rights for the Philadelphia Big 5 match-up.

“The sweep wasn’t part of our game plan this past weekend,” redshirt-senior pitcher Dan Moller said. “We are going to come into Tuesday’s game with a chip on our shoulder.”

John Murrow can be reached at john.murrow@temple.edu or Twitter @JohnMurrow12.