Monthly Archives: February 2013

Women face easiest remaining test in Xavier

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When the Owls take on Xavier Wednesday, it will mark the final time this season that the they face a team with a sub-.500 record in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

On paper, Temple’s easiest chance for one more win comes against the Musketeers as they look to lock up a seed in the A-10 Tournament. The Owls lost Sunday to crosstown rival St. Joseph’s, keeping their magic number for a postseason berth at two.

The Musketeers don’t have the firepower of recent opponents. Led by redshirt-senior forward Amber Gray, who averages 11.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, Xavier is scoring 60.4 points per game.

However, three other players average at least nine points per game.

One of Temple’s strengths is shutting down the marquee player on a team’s roster and forcing another player or players to beat them. But the Musketeers don’t provide that opportunity for the Owls.

The game is the second to last home game the Owls have this season. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

Baseball games cancelled due to weather

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The final two games of the USA Baseball Complex Classic in Cary, N.C., were cancelled due to rain and snow in the area early Saturday morning.

Temple was originally scheduled to play Monmouth at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16, but the weather forecast in the area had the game rescheduled in attempt to beat the projected conditions. The Owls were then scheduled to play Toledo at 11 a.m. on Saturday, which was then cancelled due to the weather shortly after noon Saturday.

“The snow is really coming down [in Cary, N.C.] and rather than us waiting, they have cancelled the rest of the games this weekend,” coach Ryan Wheeler said.

Both games against Monmouth and Toledo were cancelled for Saturday and Sunday, sending Temple back to Philadelphia earlier than scheduled. After back-to-back games Friday, the first time that the team has been on a field since the fall, the team will take the week to practice for next weekend at Virginia Tech, Wheeler said.

After starting the season yesterday against Wright State with an 8-3 loss, the Owls later fell to Delaware 8-4.

Temple will leave the tournament and begin the season with a record of 0-2-0. The Owls next chance to improve their record will be on Friday, Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. as they head down to Blacksburg, Va., to face Virginia Tech.

Three Owls will compete at Junior Olympic Fencing championships

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This weekend four members of the women’s fencing team will have a chance to show their talent off at the national level.

Freshmen Demi Antipas, Jessica Hall, Petra Khan and Olivia Wynn will all be competing at the Junior Olympic Fencing championships. This weekend the four Owl competitors will not be competing against other schools, rather the fencers from across the country that fall in their age groups. The four freshmen are the only ones competing because of the age restrictions on the junior event.

Antipas and Wynn will compete in the foil event, Hall in epee and Khan in sabre. In the foil event Antipas and Wynn will compete in a bracket that is comprised of 160 competitors, Hall will compete with 181 competitors and Khan’s bracket has 133 entrants.

The event was not posted to the Owls’ schedule until just this week and will be held in Baltimore, MD.

Owls miss ACHA tournament

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For Temple ice hockey, lightning has officially struck twice.

The Owls (17-12, 5-5 MACHA North) have missed out on the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II regional tournament for the second consecutive season, placing 11th with 95 points in a rankings system in which the Top 10 teams with the lowest cumulative ranking score make the regional tournament.

Temple finished just shy of the 94-point mark from 10th place University of Maryland (8-8-2, 5-3 MACHA South), while also placing 11th in the regional standings for the second year in a row.

The Owls swapped places with Maryland in the final rankings after Temple held the 10th spot in the December version, while the Terrapins sat on the outside looking in at 11th.

The Owls will play out their final weekend of the season in Abington, Md. for the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association tournament with the fourth seed in the MACHA North, and will open the tournament with No. 1 Penn State (20-4-1, 9-0 MACHA North) Friday.

The Ice Lions have swept the Owls in two regular season games thus far, and will look to end Temple’s season for the second consecutive year after bouncing the Owls from the MACHA Tournament’s semifinal round this time last year.

Game time is set to start at 8:30 p.m.

Temple to host Niagara

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This Saturday, at 1 p.m., the Temple Owls will host the Niagara Purple Eagles, on Geasey Field.

Last season, the Owls finished with a record of (9-8, 3-4 Atlantic 10 Conference), recently picked to finished fourth in the A-10 Preseason Coaches’ Poll.

The Purple Eagles finished 2012 with a record of (3-11, 0-6 ) and picked to finish seventh in the 2013 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches’ Poll.

Although the Owls have lost four of the last six season openers, coached by seventh year coach Bonnie Rosen, the team looks to start strong, this year.

The 2012 season opened with a home win against Oregon, which led to a 5-0 non-conference start. The Owls look to repeat those results, in 2013, with Saturday’s home opener being the first of a four home game stretch.

After the loss of multiple starters to graduation and addition of thirteen freshmen, the Owls’ game against Niagara will likely mark the first career start for several players and the first real game action, for freshmen in the rotation.

This game will be the first ever matchup of the Temple and Niagara lacrosse teams.

Tennis to take on Drexel in local matchup

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The men’s tennis team faces off against Drexel on Friday at 12 p.m. at Legacy Tennis Center.

The Owls (2-2, 1-0 Atlantic 10 Conference) look to snap a two-match losing streak. The Dragons (3-1, 0-0 Colonial Athletic Association) are on a two-match win streak.

Part of the Owls’ struggles can be attributed to senior Kacper Rams’ shoulder injury. Coach Steve Mauro said that Rams is “day-to-day”. Rams has not missed any matches, but Temple needs it’s captain and best player to put in a strong performance.

Drexel is led by sophomore Badr Ouabdelmoumen (2-1 in singles) and junior Skyler Davis (2-2 in singles). Both players have played in the top singles flight, and they are 3-0 together in the top doubles flight this spring.

Owls begin 2013 season with USA Baseball Complex Classic

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Temple will open its 2013 season on Friday, Feb. 15 in Cary, N.C. against Wright State at 12 p.m. in the first game of the USA Baseball Complex Classic.

The Owls are one of the eight teams competing in the three day tournament along with Villanova, LaSalle, Albany, Toledo, Delaware, Canisius, and Monmouth.

Following a 2012 season in which the Owls posted a record of 19-34 (7-17 in Atlantic 10), the Owls lone goal for this weekend is to leave with four wins in four games, red shirt senior pitcher Steve Visnic said.

“I think we have high expectations,” senior outfielder Allen Stiles said. “We played really well this fall and were going to come out and play to the best of our abilities.”

In the first game of the 2013 season, coach Wheeler said red shirt senior pitcher Dan Moller will take the mound against Wright State.

“[Moller] is one of our seniors and one of our leaders,” Wheeler said. “We are going to give him the ball early to get the season going.”

Following the 12 p.m. game against Wright State on Friday, the Owls will face Delaware at 3:30 p.m. Junior pitcher Preston Hill will get his first opportunity to start for Temple against Delaware, a team that can really hit the fastball, coach Wheeler said.

On Saturday, Feb. 16, the Owls will take on Monmouth at 3 p.m. Getting the nod to start is junior pitcher Matt Hockenberry, who led the Owls in wins in 2012 with five.

The final game of the tournament will be played on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. Sophomore pitcher Patrick Peterson will get the start after leading the Owls in innings pitched in 2012 with 84.2 innings.

“A lot of it is on our pitching. We are supposed to have really good pitching this year,” Stiles said. “The pitching staff did really well in the fall. I think we will be able to come up with runs when we need them. As long as the pitchers do their job, we will do ours.”

After the final pitch in a loss to Rhode Island to end the 2012 season, the 2013 season began. Temple has been awaiting this weekend’s tournament all postseason and despite the inability to play on a field or partake in intersquad scrimmages, Wheeler said he hopes to have his team prepared starting on Friday.

“I just want us to go down there and play fundamentally sound baseball,” Wheeler said. “Run, hit, catch, throw. If we can do those things than we’ll be in a position to win each of the games this weekend.

Starting lineup in question

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Leading up to the Owls’ season opener, against Niagara, coach Bonnie Rosen and her staff are still making adjustments to the starting lineup. But, according to Rosen, the starting lineup does not hold much importance.

“We have a lot of different ways we can go,” Rosen said. “I think the starting lineup is going to be much less critical to our success than how everyone plays throughout the entire game. The starting lineup will help set the tempo but we do expect to play a lot of people.”

In regards to the starting goalie vacancy, Rosen reiterated the same belief, implying that there is a possibility for multiple goalies to see the field, this week.

“It’s certainly not impossible to rotate two goalies in a game. It’s relatively common,” Rosen said.

In her last season as an Owl, goalkeeper Tess Bishop started in all 17 games. With Bishop’s departure, either senior Meghan Clothier, sophomore Rachel Hall, or redshirt freshman Jaqi Kakalecik will make their first career start, versus Niagara.

Women’s basketball signs three recruits

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The Owls signed three players for the class of 2017, and more are expected in the coming months.

Temple’s early focus in recruiting appears to be in the low post, with two centers signed.

Six-feet, four-inch Taylor Robinson hails from St. Louis, Miss., and played for Midwest Elite AAU. She wasn’t eligible in the fall semester for her high school team because of grades but has since rejoined the lineup.

Fayetteville, Ga., native Safiya Martin also stands at 6 feet, 4 inches and was a member of the Georgia Pearls AAU squad.

The Owls also signed Feyonda Fitzgerald, a 5 feet, 7 inches guard from Norfolk, Va. She averaged 16.9 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Lake Taylor Titans, according to 757Teamz.com. She also played for Boo Williams AAU.

The presence of two freshmen centers indicates coach Tonya Cardoza will likely have an open competition to replace senior Victoria Macaulay after her graduation following this season. There are no other centers on the current roster, and nobody listed taller than six feet, one inch.

Temple is still recruiting for the class, but cannot comment on later commits until they have signed their letter of intent.

-Jake Adams

DeMeno and Kilkenny take conference honors

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The Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference recognized two Temple gymnasts for their performances against Ursinus last Sunday. Junior Brittanie DeMeno was named the ECAC Gymnast of the Week, while freshman Tara Kilkenny was nabbed as the ECAC Coaches’ Choice Award winner.

DeMeno was a major contributor to Temple’s overall victory over Ursinus. The native of Staten Island N.Y., competed in all four events and was awarded an all-around score of 38.200 including a career best (9.550) on bars. Her all-around score was the best in the competition.

Kilkenny was not originally going to compete in last Sunday’s meet, that was until fellow freshman Hannah Popper dislocated her elbow in warm-ups. Coach Aaron Murphy gave Kilkenny the last-minute nod to compete on bars. In her collegiate debut, Kilkenny nailed her routine and was awarded a 9.675, the best score on the apparatus in the entire
competition.

DeMeno, Kilkenny and the rest of the Owls will prepare for their next meet, the Towson Invitational, which will be held on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.