Owls end regular season on the road

Temple (6-9-1, 1-6) will travel to face two American Athletic Conference opponents, Memphis (9-7, 2-5) and Rutgers (11-3-2, 4-2-1), for their final games of the regular season.

Temple will visit Memphis, Tenn. to play against Memphis on Thursday at 7 p.m. Three days later, the Owls will travel to Piscataway, N.J. for their season finale against Rutgers on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Owls hope to end their six game losing streak which is the program’s most consecutive losses since 2007. Though it has found the back of the net in four consecutive games, Temple has not held a lead against a conference opponent since its first conference game against Houston.

Offensively, junior defender Alyssa Kirk, sophomore defender Erin Lafferty and sophomore midfielder Kelly Farrell have led the Owls, combining for 20 of the team’s 47 point total. Farrell leads the team with three assists, while Lafferty and Kirk are tied for a team-high three goals with freshman midfielder Ingrid Mello. Kirk, Lafferty, and Farrell have either scored or assisted on 12 of the Owls’ 17 goals this season.

Sophomore goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff remains one shutout shy of tying the conference record for shutouts in a season and career shutouts. During conference play, Kerkhoff has led the conference in saves, averaging nearly eight saves per game, but has allowed two goals per game, which ranks among the bottom half of the conference.

Leading the Memphis offense, that has averaged two goals against conference opponents, is freshman forward Valerie Sanderson and senior midfielder Christabel Oduro, who have combined for 20 goals and six assists this season. Freshman goalkeeper Maryse Bard-Martel has amassed 27 saves within the conference.

For Rutgers, they are led on both sides of the ball by a couple of redshirt seniors. American Athletic Conference offensive player of the year, forward Jonelle Filligno, has recorded seven goals and three assists this season. Within conference play, goalkeeper Jessica Janosz leads all goalkeepers with three shutouts in seven games.

In the final weekend of the conference schedule, the seeds for next week’s conference tournament will be determined. All ten members of the conference will participate in the tournament.

Thursday’s matchup in Memphis will be Temple’s first game against the Tigers in program history.

Sunday’s game will be the sixth game between the Owls and the Scarlet Knights since 1991. Rutgers holds the all-time advantage with a 2-1-2 record against Temple. In the most recent matchup, taken place in 2005, Rutgers shutout Temple 6-0.

Owls begin season on the road

The Temple Owls will start the 2013 season with a pair of road games against the NJIT Highlanders and the Delaware State Hornets.

Temple will face NJIT on Friday, August 23, followed by matching up against Delaware St. on Sunday, August 25.

The Owls finished last season with a record of 5-12-3 (2-6-1 Atlantic-10), failing to earn a berth in their conference tournament for the 17th straight season. Several offseason changes, such as an induction into the American Athletic Conference and first year coach Seamus O’Connor, have given the program optimism for a fresh start.

Though it loses eight seniors to graduation, Temple retained a couple of experienced veteran players in fifth-year senior forward Jackie Krostek and senior defender Karly O’Toole.

Temple also returns a large number of sophomore starters including All A-10 Rookie team members defender Erin Lafferty and goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff. Lafferty started all 20 games for the Owls in 2012, primarily as a defensive standout, but also recorded a goal. Kerkhoff earned her starting role midway through the season, recording four shutouts and 63 saves in 11 games.

Sophomore midfielder Paige Rachel is another notable sophomore returnees, scoring two goals in 2012.

For NJIT (4-13-3, 2-3), it enters 2013 with a loss of five top goal scorers, who accounted for 11 of it’s 14 total goals last year.

Junior forwards Megan Delavalle and Kylie Jones are the Highlanders leading returners with three total goals scored. Sophomore forward Madeline Griep lead the team with three assist in 2012.

Last season, sophomore goalkeeper Samantha Bersett started all 20 games for NJIT and recorded 115 saves, a .777 save percentage, and four shutouts.

Delaware St. (3-11-1, 2-3) returns 16 letterwinners, including their top two scorers, sophomore forward Taylor Addison and junior forward Chelsea Boursiquot. Addison and Boursiquot combined for six of the team’s nine total scores in 2012.

The Hornets leading goalkeeper junior Katelyn Koslosky also returns, recording 92 saves and a .773 save percentage in 13 games).

In the history of the program, Temple has earned a combined 3-0 record against NJIT and Delaware St.. The most recent matchup came last season against the Highlanders where the Owls won a 1-0 shutout.

Two Owls named to women’s soccer A-10 All-Rookie Team

Freshmen goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff and defender Erin Lafferty were named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team, it was announced today.

In preparation for the A-10 tournament which begins on Nov. 1, the conference released its annual awards on Wednesday which honored the two Temple standout freshmen.

On the season, Kerkhoff split time in goal mainly with redshirt-senior goalkeeper Tara Murphy along with senior goalkeeper Gillian Kacsuta. In her 2012 campaign, Kerkhoff recorded three wins, four shutouts of the team’s seven total and made 63 saves.

In her 11 appearances, Kerkhoff started nine matches and posted a 0.83 goals against average, along with the A-10’s highest save percentage at .887.

Lafferty made an immediate impact for coach Gwilliam’s defensive-minded team. Lafferty started each of Temple’s 20 matches this season, while posting five shots.

Lafferty added one goal to her 2012 season resume, as she notched her first collegiate goal in a match against Rhode Island on Oct. 12.

Both Kerkhoff and Lafferty were the first Owls to receive the A-10 All-Rookie Team honor since senior teammate Kate Yurkovic received the honor in her first season with the Owls in 2009.

-John Murrow