Monthly Archives: August 2013

Tennis athletes earn honors

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Temple’s men and women tennis players were recognized by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for their academic excellence.

The men’s team received the status of ITA All-Academic Team. Also, five men’s players, Maros Januvka, Kristian Marquart, Kacper Rams, Sam Rundle and Hernan Vasconez were named 2013 Division I Men’s Scholar-Athletes.

Likewise, three women’s players, Carly Bohman, Alicia Doms and Jasmine Merali were named 2013 Division I Women’s Scholar-Athletes.

To receive ITA Scholar-Athlete status, a player must be a varsity letterwinner with a grade point average of at least 3.50 for the current academic year and is enrolled in the present year for at least two semesters.

Maquart, a junior from Germany, maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average throughout the school year.

While Bohman, a senior from Ontario, finished the school year with a 3.98 grade point average, which included a 4.0 during the fall semester.

To earn the ITA All-Academic Team award, the players must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.20. The men’s team had a 3.59 for the 2012-2013 academic year.

As the fall season is fast approaching, the men will begin their practices on Sept. 4th and the women will begin on Sept. 11th.

Youtz named to preseason team, Owls ranked sixth

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The season hasn’t even kicked off yet, but Amber Youtz has already collected a Big East accolade.

The junior forward has been named to the Preseason All-Big East Team. She is one of four unanimous selections out of a vote conducted by the conference’s eight head coaches. The coaches were not allowed to vote for athletes on their team.

“We’re really proud of Amber for getting this honor,” head coach Amanda Janney said in a press release. “I’m glad the other Big East coaches recognized her accomplishments from last year, and we’re hoping she makes a name for herself in the new conference.”

Youtz scored 22 goals and 54 total points last season, taking the honor as the Atlantic 10’s Offensive Player of the Year and ranking seventh in goals for all of Division I field hockey.

A preseason poll was also released, which has Temple projected as sixth prior to their first year as an affiliate of the Big East.

Rutgers (fifth), Providence (fourth), Louisville (third), Old Dominion (second) and Connecticut (first) are all projected ahead of Temple, based on the coaches’ poll.

The Owls begin their season on Saturday at Geasey Field, where they will play Ohio State in the 2013 Conference Cup Tournament.

Women’s basketball schedule released

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The full schedule for women’s basketball was released today for the 2013-14 season.

Entering its first year in the American Athletic Conference, Temple faces road and away matchups against each conference opponent: Memphis, Louisville, UCF, USF, Connecticut, SMU, Cincinnati, Houston and Rutgers. Two of those teams, Connecticut and Louisville, played in the national championship last year. Other notable matchups include a game against Villanova on Dec. 19 and a game against Penn on Jan. 22.

The season opener will be at La Salle on Nov. 8 at the Tom Gola Arena.

“We are so excited to play in the American Athletic Conference and to usher in this new era of women’s basketball,” Temple head coach Tonya Cardoza said in a press release. “Obviously, this is the most challenging schedule in the history of the program. We are excited to bring outstanding competition to Philadelphia, and we can’t wait to take the court. Our fans will see some great games.”

The 2014 American Athletic Conference Championship will be held March 7-10 in Uncasville, Conn.

Owls aim for third straight victory

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The Temple Owls (2-0) will travel for the third consecutive game and face Mount St. Mary (1-1) in Emmitsburg, Md. Thursday at 7 p.m.

With a win on Thursday night, Temple would be 3-0 for the first time since 1992, the program’s second year of existence.

The Owls have begun this season with a rejuvenated offensive attack. In the two victories against NJIT and Delaware State, Temple has scored a total of six goals, compared to 10 total goals in the 2012 season. Temple has also matched its 2012 total in assists (7).

Freshman midfielder Ingrid Mello leads Temple with two goals, while sophomore defender Kaylee Harner, sophomore forward Kelly Farrell, junior defender Alyssa Kirk and freshman midfielder Clara Guenter are tied at a goal each. Farrell is also tied at a team-high two assists this season with sophomore goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff.

Kerkhoff and the Temple defense look to continue their shutout streak and possibly pursue the program record of four consecutive shutouts (1993). Temple has never achieved three consecutive shutouts to begin a season.

The Mount will come into Thursday night’s game following a 1-0 season opening victory against UMBC and more recently, a 2-0 shutout loss to Bucknell.

Senior forward Jackie Corley has been scoreless but leads the team with seven shots. Sophomore forwards Emma Blair and Julia DiGiacomo have recorded the team’s lone goal and assist of the season.

Mount St. Mary’s has split its goalkeeping duties between sophomore goalkeepers Rachel Bourne and vicky Cocozza, each playing 90 minutes through two games. The duo has managed to register a combined 10 saves and a .846 save percentage.

This is Temple’s first matchup with Mount St. Mary since 1996 and 1997. In both games, the Owls came away victorious.

Preperation for Notre Dame continues

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As Temple readies for its matchup against Notre Dame on Saturday, coach Matt Rhule participated in the first weekly teleconference for The American Athletic Conference this afternoon.

Rhule discussed his team, and how it is preparing for its game in South Bend, Ind. later this week.

“We’ve had a good, hard physical training camp,” Rhule said. “I think we’ve really established the way we want to play and the way we want to run the program in terms of an emphasis on effort and tackling and blocking and just the fundamentals that with this team needed to happen.”

“This Saturday is obviously, for us, a tremendous opportunity to play in a storied place and play against, both historically and recently, one of the best programs in the nation.” Rhule added. “So for our players and for our program it’s a great opportunity to go out.”

What has stood out to Rhule in particular when watching film of Notre Dame, is the team’s defensive line.

“I think with them they have one of the best defensive lines in the country,” Rhule said. 
“[Senior] Louis Nix, we’re probably not sleeping around here thinking about him. Whatever he weighs, 350 pounds. He’s a dominant, dominant college football player that takes over games, establishes the line of scrimmage.”

Junior Stephon Tuitt and senior Prince Shembo were also mentioned by Rhule as impact players that stand out on the roster.

Rhule said that the Owls will visit Notre Dame Stadium after landing on Friday, as the team wants to visualize where they will be playing the next day. As Rhule points out, his team may have its hands full. 

“[The Fighting Irish] really are the complete package on both offense and defense,” he said.

Matautia named to All-Conference Preseason Team, Owls place 7th in poll

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In the inaugural preseason coach’s vote in the American Athletic Conference, Temple senior captain Gabriella Matautia was named to the All-American Athletic Conference Preseason Team and the Owls were picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll.

Last year as a junior, Matautia was at the top of her game. She received the honor of being selected to the Atlantic 10 First Team and was also named to the A-10 All-Championship Team. She led the Owls with 437 kills, and ranked second in the A-10 overall with 4.05 kills per set. She was a huge part in leading Temple to a 19-11 record, which was eleven more wins than they had in 2011. She was a dominant server, leading the team and all players in the conference with 41 service aces.

Matuatia is proud of her honors last season but knows that she needs to bring the same focus and determination this season to repeat such a great year.

“I want to start out strong this season, help get our team off to a good start, and finish the season at my best,” Matautia said. “We have depth on our team and a lot of new players that bring additional strengths. I think together we have a great chance to compete against these big teams, and better our overall record compared to last year.”

Temple was the seventh-most improved team in NCAA Division I, placing fifth in the Atlantic Ten with a 19-11 record. The Owls were picked to finish 11th of 12 teams in the Atlantic 10 in 2012, but placed fifth with a record of 8-6 to earn the program’s first trip to the A-10 Tournament since 2009.

The favorite in the Preseason Coaches’ Poll is Louisville who put up a dominant 30-4 record in the Big East last season. UCF was picked second, followed by UConn, Cincinnati and USF rounds out the top five. The votes were cast by the league’s 10 head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own teams.

Owls begin season on the road

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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.

Men’s basketball schedule completed

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After originally being announced in June, the rest of the 2013-14 men’s basketball schedule has been revealed.

The dates and locations of most non-conference games had been announced, but no dates for conference matchups, nor had any game times been known.

Only four of 30 games (at Pennsylvania, at Towson, Texas Southern and LIU-Brooklyn) will not be nationally televised. The 26 nationally televised regular season games is a record for Temple.

The Owls will play every American Athletic Conference team twice in the regular season: once at the Liacouras Center and once at the opponent’s home arena for a total of 18 games. They begin conference play at Rutgers on New Year’s Day 2014 at 8 p.m.

Defending national champion Louisville comes to Philadelphia on Thursday, Feb. 13 for a 7 p.m. game that will be televised on either ESPN or ESPN2. Temple will also host Memphis on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 3 p.m. and Connecticut on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 9 p.m. Both the Louisville and UConn matchups will be televised on either ESPN or ESPN, and Memphis game will be on ESPN2.

The one non-conference matchup that was not given a date in the previous release was with Villanova. The Wildcats will make the short trip to North Philadelphia for a game on Saturday, Feb 1. The game time has not yet been announced.

Temple will definitely play one game on ESPN’s flagship network. The matchup against La Salle, on Saturday, Jan. 18 at noon, will be part of ESPN’s College GameDay tour.

Click here for the full, updated schedule.

Owls win final game in Europe

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The Owls finished strong on their trip to Europe.

After going on an 18-0 run at the end of the first quarter, Temple went on to dominate the Liomatic Perugia in Foligno, Italy yesterday by a score of 78-43.

Junior Anthony Lee led the Owls with 19 points, his best scoring total on the trip. Lee also led the team with 11 rebounds.

Junior guard Will Cummings and Sophomore Daniel Dingle also posted double-digits, scoring 13 and 11 points respectively.

Men’s basketball team continues European tour

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Coach Fran Dunphy and the men’s basketball team continue on their European trip this week, having played in two more games since their initial loss to Evreux.

The Owls took on Boulogne, a team from the French Pro B Division, on Saturday and lost in a close matchup that went to overtime. The final score was 91-82, as sophomore guard Quenton DeCosey led the team in scoring with 24 points.

Then yesterday, the Owls headed towards Montava, Italy where they competed in a  scrimmage with the Montava Sting. No final score was kept since it was a scrimmage, but Temple did win the first three quarters of play. DeCosy led in this matchup as well, with 18 points.

The Owls face the Liomatic Perugia in Foligno, Italy tomorrow in what will be the final game of the team’s European tour.