Author Archives: Andrew Parent

Stiff competition tests Owls in Day One of Penn Invitational

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Coach Steve Mauro said he is happy with his men’s tennis squad after it took a step up in competition on the first day of the Penn Invitational Friday.

“I think the guys fought hard and are getting better and better,” Mauro said.

Temple competed against the University of Pennsylvania, St. John’s and University of Buffalo.

Juniors Hicham Belkssir and Nicolas Paulus lost 8-6 in a doubles pro set against St. John’s. Although it was a defeat, Mauro was happy with how both players kept it close.

Belkssir also lost a tight single match against St. John’s in the third set, 6-4.

Junior Santiago Canete won both of his matches in a three-set singles win against Buffalo.

Mauro said one of the biggest factors was the matches were played indoors due to the rain from the day before.

“It wasn’t great for our style because the courts were kind of fast, something that we are not use to,” Mauro said.

Mauro said he was please with the way his team held themselves against its competition and looks forward to the rest of the tournament.

“It was a high level this weekend, I am sure we will do even better tomorrow.” Mauro said.

-Connor Northrup

Campus Recreation adds three cut sports, six total clubs

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Campus Recreation is adding six clubs to its club sport program, a source close to the department told The Temple News Tuesday.

Baseball, softball and men’s track & field, all victims of the Dec. 6, 2013 athletic cuts, will be among the new additions, along with men’s and women’s racquetball, men’s and women’s CrossFit and men’s wrestling. Men’s gymnastics, also a cut sport as a result of the December announcement, was announced as a club sport in April.

The move comes after Campus Recreation announced the hiring of Sarah Shouvlin as the department’s Assistant Director for Sport Clubs last week, working under Sport Club Coordinator Peter Derstine.

Check back soon for updates.

Bitter rivalry to resume in season opener

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Coach Ryan Frain said he is already treating tonight’s game against the University of Maryland as a playoff game.

The second-year coach’s emphasis on the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association bout could be that every contest against Maryland since 2008 has been a close game for the Owls. The Terps have gotten the better of the matchups in that span, winning four of the last five.

No pair of games in one season with the two teams were closer than last season, when the Owls dropped a pair of overtime games to Maryland by scores of 6-5 and 2-1.

Another factor lies in the sting from the end of the 2012-13 season, which is still fresh in the mind of Frain and his veteran players.

The top 10 teams in the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Southeast region make the regional tournament on a point system, but in 2013 the Terps edged the Owls by one point for the final spot.

The two schools weren’t far apart last season, either, as Maryland finished No. 11 in the region, while Temple finished in the No. 15 spot.

The game marks the second consecutive season that Temple and Maryland are starting their seasons against each other.

The two teams are both in the MACHA conference, but are in different divisions as Maryland resides in the MACHA South and Temple in the MACHA North.

-Stephen Godwin Jr.

Update: Brunson picks ‘Nova

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Jalen Brunson didn’t need words.

The five-star point guard merely had to unzip his sweatshirt, revealing a white T-shirt with “Villanova Basketball” emblazoned on the front, to announce his college decision.

Brunson will be headed to Villanova, a Big 5 rival of Temple’s, announcing his verbal commitment to the school Wednesday evening. Brunson’s choice, announced in front of a myriad of cameras and reporters, was delivered a day after it was reported and confirmed by his father, Rick Brunson, that Jalen was deciding between Villanova and Illinois Wednesday.

The Stevenson High School senior out of Lincolnshire, Illinois was heavily recruited by Temple before, per Tuesday’s reports, it was clear that the school had dropped out of the running for the 6-foot-1-inch, 180-pound point guard.

Rick Brunson played for Temple from 1991-95 and built a notable pedigree under former coach John Chaney for the Owls during his four-year career with the team. He played nine NBA seasons before retiring in 2006.

Brunson was reportedly set to join Temple as an assistant in June, before reports of his arrest and charge for attempted sexual assault emerged a week later, effectively ending any further notion of his potentially joining the Owls’ staff. The open coaching spot was filled with Aaron McKie’s hiring last month.

Temple has one verbal commit in its 2015 recruiting class thus far in four-star, 6-foot-5-inch shooting guard Trey Lowe out of Ewing High School in New Jersey.

Hockey roster released

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Temple ice hockey coach Ryan Frain released the team’s final roster Tuesday night.

One highlight on the final roster lies in sophomore forward Brett Woyshner, who made the team after spending last season as a redshirt.

Frain is keeping 26 active players on his team and is grooming four redshirts for next season.

The squad will return 19 players from last year’s team, while it will feature 15 juniors and seniors.

Seven new names are set to join the team this season, but the two that stand out early are freshmen forwards Devon Thomas and Eric Graham.

Thomas worked hard during tryouts and scored two goals on the final night of the three-day trial, while Graham also netted a pair of goals in the tryout finale and had another ricochet off the post.

-Stephen Godwin Jr.

Travel-heavy schedule awaits cross country

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After a tumultuous eight-month period highlighted by the men’s indoor and outdoor track & field teams’ inclusion in the July 1 athletic cuts and a summer head coaching change, the men’s and women’s cross country teams are set to unveil its season next week.

The Owls will start their season at the Appalachian State University-hosted Covered Bridge Open in Boone, North Carolina on Aug. 29. The teams’ next meet will be the Big 5 Invitational on familiar grounds in Philadelphia’s Belmont Plateau.

The Owls will run in four meets before the American Athletic Conference Championships, hosted by Tulsa University on Oct. 31, followed by the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional at Penn State on Nov. 14, for any who qualify.

This year’s eight-man men’s team is compiled of five juniors, one sophomore and two freshmen.

The women’s team has more depth, featuring 12 runners including seniors Kiersten Brown, Jenna Dubrow and Andrea Mathis. The women’s team also features five true freshmen.

-Ed LeFurge

Forde hired as Temple track & field coach

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Athletic communications confirmed Wednesday evening that Elvis Forde has been hired as Temple’s head coach of the men’s and women’s cross country programs, as well as the women’s indoor and outdoor track & field teams.

Forde spent the last 12 seasons as the Director of Track and Field for Illinois State University. The school opted not to renew Forde’s contract after the 2013-2014 season.

“We would like to thank Elvis for his dedication to our cross country and track and field teams,” Illinois State Director of Athletics Larry Lyons told WJBC Radio in Illinois. “While we have had some special individual performances during Elvis’ term, overall team results were not where we expect or need them to be.”

Forde will replace former coach Eric Mobley (2008-14), who resigned effective June 30.

“I am very excited to be selected to lead the Temple Track and Field/Cross Country programs,” Forde said, via press release. “I want to thank [athletic director Kevin Clark] along with [senior associate athletic director Joe Guinta]. Temple University is a highly-regarded academic institution and it has the potential to be a tremendous track program.”

“It also is in its second year in the highly competitive American Athletic Conference,” Forde added. “That combination should help attract quality student-athletes that will make for a successful program.”

Mobley’s six-year tenure as head coach of the men’s and women’s cross country and track & field programs was highlighted by his leading the women’s track & field team to its first-ever Atlantic 10 Outdoor Track and Field Championship title. Mobley also won A-10 Coach of the Year that season.

-Ed LeFurge

Highly touted recruit verbally commits to Owls

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Per his Twitter, four-star cornerback Kareem Ali Jr. verbally committed to Temple Saturday, marking what is perhaps Temple’s biggest verbal commit of the summer.

Per reports, the Sicklerville, N.J. native has plans to graduate Timber Creek high school in December and enroll at Temple in January. Ali is also slated to participate in spring ball next year.

The announcement of his orally committing dropped after Ali participated in coach Matt Rhule’s football camp Saturday. Ali decommitted from Maryland, with which he verbally committed last month, in favor of Temple’s program.

Rivals.com lists Ali as a four-star recruit and the No. 28 ranked cornerback in the nation. He is the No. 7 ranked CB in New Jersey and received an invitation to play in the 2015 U.S. Army All-American bowl.

Ali amassed 31 tackles, broke up five passes and registered one interception for Timber Creek high school in 2013. He is the second prospect to verbally commit to the Owls this week alongside Haddonfield wide receiver/cornerback Jake Robinson.

O’Connor hires former colleague as assistant

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Former Chestnut Hill College men’s soccer coach Keith Cappo has been hired as women’s soccer assistant coach, per a Thursday press release.

Cappo ran Chestnut Hill’s men’s soccer program from 2010 to 2013, the first year in which he spent opposite Temple women’s soccer coach Seamus O’Connor, who led Chestnut Hill’s women’s team as head coach in 2010.

The two have a working history, as Cappo served under O’Connor as an assistant in the ’08 and ’09 seasons at Chestnut Hill, when O’Connor guided both the men’s and women’s programs as director of soccer. They also worked alongside each other when Chestnut Hill was still transitioning from NCAA Division III to Division II in 2008.

In 2010, Cappo served as O’Connor’s assistant  with Philadelphia Liberty FC, a West Chester, Pa. based member of the Women’s Premier Soccer League.

Prior to his tenure at Chestnut Hill, Cappo coached in various capacities at the high school level with Thomas Edison and Bishop Denis J. O’Connell in 2004 to 2006. He also coached with The Shipley School from 2006 to 2008.

As a player, Cappo started for William Penn Charter’s varsity team for three years before a four-year playing career at The Catholic University of America, for which he led as captain in his final two seasons.

Cappo will first see regular-season action with the Owls Aug. 22 when Temple opens the season on the road against Binghamton University.

Walker joins notable names on Maxwell Award watch list

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P.J. Walker’s name graced the Maxwell Award watch list released Monday, joining 32 other quarterbacks of the initial group of 75 players to survive the initial cut.

Walker impressed as the starter in Temple’s final seven games as a true freshman last season, completing 60.8 percent of his passes with 20 touchdown strikes and eight interceptions. A 59-49 shootout defeat to Southern Methodist featured what was arguably Walker’s best performance of the season when the Elizabeth, N.J. native hit 26 of his 37 passing attempts with four touchdown passes and zero interceptions.

The rising sophomore marks the first Temple player on the Maxwell watch list since former running back Bernard Pierce made the extended list in October of 2011.

Walker joins a recognizable field of quarterbacks on the list, including UCLA’s Brett Hundley, defending national champion Jameis Winston of Florida State, Ohio State’s Braxton Miller and Penn State’s Christian Hackenberg.

The list will be trimmed to semifinalists on Nov. 3 with a final crop of candidates determined Nov. 24.