Author Archives: Joey Cranney

Men’s soccer sets to defend first place

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The men’s soccer team will face an unfamiliar Atlantic 10 Conference opponent Friday afternoon.

After leaving the Horizon League at the end of the 2011 season, Butler will face Temple for the first time as conference rivals.

Although the Bulldogs will bring a 3-6-4 overall record and a 1-3 conference record into Ambler, coach Dave MacWilliams believes Butler is a much better team than the standings indicate.

“We know they’re a very tough team,” MacWilliams said. “We have scouts on them and we see it in game film. They’ve played a very hard schedule. I’ve been telling my players all week that we shouldn’t look at their wins and losses because they’ve played a much harder schedule.”

MacWilliams seems to be right on point with that. In fact, the teams that Temple has beaten this year (Manhattan, St. Peter’s, Howard, Rider, St. Bonaventure, Duquesne, and UMass) are a combined 20-66-5. Although they’ve certainly succeeded in beating inferior teams, they’re inability to beat more formidable opponents remains troubling.

“We’ve talked about it,” MacWilliams said. “We have to beat teams that have a higher winning record. I presented that challenged to the guy’s this weekend because we’re facing two of the top teams in the A-10.”

With Friday’s game against Butler and Sunday’s match-up against No. 23 St. Louis, MacWilliams believes an upcoming weekend of tough soccer will give a good indication of where the Owls are as a team.

“We’ll know at the end of the weekend where we stand,” MacWilliams said. “It’s going to be a measuring stick for all of us.”

Temple is currently in sole possession of first place in the A-10 with an overall record of 7-4-1 and a conference record of 3-0.

The game against Butler will get started at 2:30 p.m. Friday at the Ambler Sports Complex.

-Tyler Sablich

Field hockey hosts Saint Louis

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Led by sophomore forward Amber Youtz, the field hockey team is looking to for its fifth win in Atlantic 10 Conference play on Friday against Saint Louis (1-14).

The Billikens are winless in conference play this season, with losses to Richmond, Massachusetts, and St. Joseph’s University.

Saint Louis is led by senior midfielder Lexie Lindblad and junior forward Tori Lycett, who each have four goals this year.

Although the Billikens have one win on the season, they have played many close games, most recently losing to St. Joe’s by one goal.

Temple is going to have to stay focused and rely on their offense that has scored 49 goals this season against a Saint Louis team that has given up 57 goals.

Youtz currently ranks sixth among all players in NCAA Division I in points per game with 2.81, and seventh in goals per game with 1.13. She leads the A-10 in both categories, and also has a conference leading nine assists.

The Owls will look to Youtz and freshman forward Alyssa Delp to lead the offensive attack. Delp is second on the team with eight goals.

Defensively, junior defender Molly Doyle and sophomore Lizzy Millen will be looking for the Owls’ first shut out of the season.

Saint Louis has scored 16 goals in their 15 games.

Temple will be looking to jump on the Billikens early and start to get ready for a big conference matchup at No. 17 Richmond. The Spiders are undefeated at home this season.

–Colin Tansits

Men’s tennis begins play in fall season finale

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The men’s tennis team began its final tournament of the fall Thursday, going 1-3 in singles matches in the qualifying draw.

Freshman Hicham Belkssir was the only Owl who won a match, defeating Morgan State senior Richard King 6-0, 6-2 in the first round of the USTA/ITA Atlantic Regional Championship.

He lost in the second round to St. Joseph’s University freshman Andres Urrea 6-3, 6-1. Coach Steve Mauro said Belkssir was tired in the second match, as there was only 90 minutes of time between the two matches.

Freshman Nicolas Paulus sustained a neck injury in his first round match, and eventually fell to Maryland-Baltimore County sophomore Kamal Patel 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Mauro said that Paulus was hurt in the third game of the first set, and was therefore in pain for the majority of the match. Mauro suspects that it will fully heal within a week.

Sophomore Hernan Vasconez was also defeated in his first round match. He lost 6-3, 7-6 to Norfolk State freshman Samuel Lemberger. Mauro said he was surprised that Vasconez lost, as he has been having a great fall season.

Singles matches in the main draw will begin tomorrow. Sophomore Kristian Marquart will play James Madison senior Hugo Ramadier. Mauro said Ramadier is a tough opponent and beating him would be a great win for Marquart. The winner of that match goes on to play the tournament’s top seed, Virginia senior Jarmere Jenkins, on Saturday.

Senior Kacper Rams is also in the main draw, but he has a bye in the first round and will not play singles until Saturday.

Doubles action also kicks off tomorrow. Rams and Marquart will play the Old Dominion team of freshman Zvonimir Podvinski and junior Dante Terenzio.

Vasconez and Paulus are scheduled to play James Madison’s Ramadier and senior Florent Sentenac. Paulus hopes to be able to play, but if he cannot, Belkssir will take his place.

-Evan Cross

Women’s soccer hosts Rhode Island in A-10 play

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The women’s soccer team will look to rebound from a 2-1 overtime loss against Rhode Island when the Owls take on Massachusetts on Sunday, Oct. 14 at 1 p.m. at Temple’s Ambler Sports Complex.

For the second time in the weekend, the Owls will face an Atlantic 10 Conference opponent, the fifth match in a row against an A-10 rival.

“They’re going to be very good and very athletic,” coach Matt Gwilliam said. “They have a few special, special players that we have to take account for.”

One of those special players for Massachusetts is sophomore midfielder Moa Mattsson, who has scored eight of the team’s 15 goals on the season while recording three assists.

Following the home loss on Friday against Rhode Island, freshman goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff believes that Massachusetts may be a more difficult opponent than Rhode Island.

Temple will enter Sunday’s match with a 4-9-2 record (1-3-0 in A-10), while Massachusetts will enter with a 7-7-0 record (2-2-0 in A-10).

“We are going to go out there and hopefully get the win on Sunday,” sophomore defender Alyssa Kirk said.

–John Murrow

Volleyball faces tough A-10 test at GW

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The Owls now face the very real possibility of falling into the middle of the Atlantic 10 Conference pack when they head to George Washington (4-2 in A-10) to take on the Colonials Sunday.

Temple is 1-2 in their last three games, with losses against conference leading Dayton (6-0) and Duquesne (5-1) on Friday. The Owls are 4-2 in the conference, tied with Xavier, Fordham and George Washington.

A loss would knock them out of the Top 5.

Temple is coming of a straight set loss to Duquesne, where junior outside hitter Elyse Burkert led the team with 12 kills. The team struggled on night with the height of the Dukes’ blocks.

The Colonials have six players on their roster over six feet, which could pose yet another challenge for the Owls.

The match begins at 1 p.m.

-Jake Adams

Golf competes in Big 5 Invitational

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Today is the day the Temple golf roster has waited for as the Owls set to compete in the Big 5 Invitational.

The Owls along with 18 other teams, will battle it out at Philmont Country Club in Huntingdon Valley, Pa. Coach Brian Quinn’s starting lineup features the four players who have played each tournament in senior Devin Bibeau, sophomore Brandon Matthews, junior Matt Crescenzo, and sophomore Paul Carbone.

Earlier in the week Quinn said that sophomore Conor Dunne had the inside track at being the No. 5 starter, however, junior Russell Hartung has been penciled in there for this weekend. Quinn was not immediately available for contact on the change.

While Temple has had some excellent individual performances this season they have struggled to put together a full team effort, and with Philmont being a de facto home course, now seems like the ideal time for the Owls to get to the level their coach knows they have the potential reach.

-Anthony Bellino

Women’s rowing season begins at Navy Day Regatta

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The Temple women’s rowing team will begin its fall 2012 season this Saturday at the Navy Day Regatta along the Schuylkill River.

The Regatta is set up as a head race where competitors will each begin at 15-second intervals. As new coach Rebecca Smith Grzybowski said, the goal is to catch up the boat ahead of the team while not allowing the boats behind them to catch up.

Grzybowski has had her team focus on technique, specifically core strength, leading into the season, she said.

Being the season’s start, Grzybowski plans on using the regatta to work with different lineups. In doing so, Grzybowski will have each girl run two races during the regatta.

Temple’s first race will the 4+ final at 9:50 a.m., while the final race will be the 8+ final at 1:37p.m.

-Liam McKenna

Cross country runs in Leopard Invitational

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The men’s and women’s cross country teams will continue their season Saturday at Lafayette University, as the men’s and women’s teams will race in the Leopard Invitational.

“I think for both teams, I’m looking for them to continue to progress and get better,” coach Adam Bray said. “I’d like to pull down the gap a little bit more, and build upon our success. That goes for both teams.”

At the Paul Short Invitational, the men’s team saw redshirt senior Travis Mahoney participate in his first cross country race in nearly two years. He didn’t disappoint, breaking a school record with his sixth place finish while leading the team to a program-best 19th place finish overall. The team’s strong effort resulted in the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association to rank the team 13th in the Mid-Atlantic Region in the latest weekly polls.

On the women’s side at the Paul Short Invitational, sophomore Jenna Dubrow brought her streak of leading the team to eight meets while also breaking a school record with her 13th place finish. The team placed 26th overall, which like the men’s team, was a program best. Dubrow hopes to build further upon her success during tomorrow’s race.

“I definitely feel like there’s more to come,” she said after the Paul Short Invitational. “Hopefully next race I can dig even deeper than I did [last race].”

The meet will serve as the team’s last race before the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships, which will be the program’s final year of participating before transitioning to the Big East Conference next year.

-Avery Maehrer

Volleyball travels to Duquesne

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Coming off a 3-0 sweep against La Salle, the volleyball team (4-1 in the Atlantic 10 Conference) heads west to take on conference foe Duquesne (4-1) on Friday.

Temple will be looking to ride its defense to another win, in a match that they will likely be considered an underdog. The Owls rank No. 12 in the nation, and first in the A-10, with 17.8 digs per set.

Duquesne, coming off a 3-1 loss against George Washington, features a balanced offense, however. The Dukes have four players with at least two kills per set. Junior outside hitter Allison Foschia leads the team with 2.99 per set.

Last season the teams split their season series, with both squads winning at home. Temple is looking to stay near the top of the conference, and with a win of Duquesne would remain in second place.

The match starts at 7 p.m.

-Jake Adams

Women’s soccer begins homestand vs. Rhode Island

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The women’s soccer team will begin its second two-game weekend homestand of the season on Friday at 3 p.m. when they take on Rhode Island at Temple’s Ambler Sports Complex.

Coming off a 1-0 double-overtime win at Duquesne on Sunday, Oct. 7, the Owls will enter with momentum on their side, sophomore defender Alyssa Kirk said.

“I think Rhode Island is one of the tougher teams we will face,” freshman goalkeeper Shauni Kerkhoff said.

Temple will enter Friday’s match with a 4-8-2 record (2-1-0 in Atlantic 10 Conference) while Rhode Island will enter with a 7-6-1 record and losers of their last three matches, all of which were A-10 conference matches.

“I expect to win, 100 percent,” Kirk said. “We are going to go out there and do whatever it takes to get the win Friday and Sunday.”

On the season, Rhode Island has scored 23 goals compared to Temple’s six on the year. On the defensive side, the Owls have let up 10 less goals that Rhode Island has to opponents, as Rhode Island goalkeepers have allowed 23 goals compared to Temple’s 13 given up by Owl goalkeepers.

“This weekend is going to be the turning point in our season,” Kerkhoff said. “The outcomes of these two games will affect the rest of our year.”

-John Murrow