Every fall, there are always three separate weeks that stand out. Opening week, fall break (Thanksgiving), and Homecoming Week.
Homecoming is always a special time on campus, as alumni return to North Broad, and friends & family come to visit. This year’s HoCo is especially significant for Temple, with the inauguration of the university’s first Black President, Jason Wingard.
With Temple Athletics, every week is a busy one. However Homecoming Week 2022 takes the cake, with six programs going into action across five different sports this week. Let’s break it all down, in the second Weekly Roundup of Fall 2022.
Football
Head Coach Stan Drayton and his squad was looking to build off the momentum gained from their first win of the season last week. They hosted the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in front of an attendance of 33,000 plus in cherry and scarlet shirts.
The Owls would fall, 16-14 in a hard fought defensive battle, dropping to 1-2 on the season. Both losses come at the hands of Power 5 conference schools.
Freshman EJ Warner faired quite well in his first collegiate start. Warner threw for 215 yards, on 19/32 passing with two touchdowns.
The key difference in Saturday’s game was a deflection pick six from Rutgers. Despite the impressive showing from the defense, holding Rutgers out of the endzone, the Owls accept no moral victories:
[I’m] just really proud with how hard we played, obviously there are some things we can do better to get a different result. Again, no moral victories are something I that look forward to, but there is a lot of great things that we can learn and build from this game. So we’re going to take that approach and go to work.”
Temple Head Coach Stan Drayton
The full breakdown of Saturday’s game can be found here.
Volleyball
After a 1-2 showing at the Cornell Tournament last week, Temple Volleyball was back in Philly. They spent their weekend competing at the legendary Palestra in the Penn Invitational.
In three separate contests, the Owls finished 2-1, defeating Providence & the host Penn Quakers, and then losing to George Washington.
In Friday’s three sets to two win vs the Friars, Taylor Davenport shined again, with 23 kills, leading all participants. The 23 kills are the second highest output in a match this season for Davenport, and now the sophomore has 185 on the season.
The following day, the Owls would pull double duty. After losing three sets to one to George Washington, the Owls took on Penn.
The Owls dominated, winning three sets to one. Davenport had 15 kills in the matchup, giving her 31 for the day and 54 for the weekend. The Owls’ sophomore standout also had 4 blocks in the final set, alongside Samantha Mikosky.
Following last week, Volleyball now sits at 6-5 on the season, and now prepare for conference play vs Wichita State and Tulsa next week.
“For me it’s a new conference to coach in, and I’m looking forward for the team to continue to grow and evolve. I just told the team, we aren’t going to be the same team in November than we are right now and that’s exciting.”
Temple Volleyball Head Coach Linda Hampton-Keith
Men’s Soccer
Men’s soccer was in action twice last week, splitting the two contests with a win and a loss. Last Tuesday, St. Peter’s was in town, and the Owls cruised to a 3-1 win, after a 2-0 first half.
The player of the game for the Owls was Sawyer Koza. The Newtown, Pa. product cashed in twice for the Owls, once in each half. His first goal came in the 10th minute, assisted by leading scorer Mike Eijgendaal & Sean Karani. His second came in the 60th minute, Eijgendaal picked up his 2nd assist of the night on the goal.
The Owls picked up the win playing with just 10 guys for the majority of it. Graduate defenseman Fridtjof Andberg was dealt a red card in the 25th minute of the tilt.
Unfortunately, the Owls’ good fortune would run out later in the week. On Saturday night, the Owls were blown out and shutout, 4-0, to UCF in their AAC matchup of the season.
The Golden Knights scored twice in each half, both 2nd half goals came in the final several minutes of the tilt. Junior Lucca Dourado scored twice in the game for UCF.
Men’s soccer now sits at 2-3-2 on the season. After a four game homestand, and six of the last seven at home, the Owls will be back on the road again. Their road conference schedule begins next Saturday at South Florida.
Women’s Soccer
This season has not been kind to the women’s soccer program. As of 9/21, the Owls are still winless, at 0-3-4.
Following a draw last week against in-town rival Drexel, the Owls would have just one contest this past week. The Owls were down south, taking on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in American Conference action.
The Owls would drop their first conference matchup of the season, 1-0. Tulsa outshot Temple, 17-2, with none of the Owls’ shots landing on goal. Tulsa scored all the way back in the 15th minute of the game. It looked as if the Owls had an equalizer on a Carly Steinberg header, but the play was called back on an offsides.
Temple Women’s Soccer Head Coach Nick Bochette certainly hopes his squad’s fortune can change in the friendly confines of the Sports Complex:
“We let an opportunity slip through our hands tonight. Although there was certainly improvement and we created opportunities, we need to find a way to get results in games like this. We’re looking forward to hosting SMU next week and being back at home for the first time in over a month.”
Although the Owls are back home for the first time since August 18th, the schedule will not get easier, as they host the #19 ranked Mustangs.
Field Hockey
While it has been a rough go around for women’s soccer, Temple Field Hockey have experienced the complete opposite. Michelle Vittese’s squad is sitting at 7-1, while in the midst of a 5 game winning streak.
They played in two contests last week, both at Howarth Field. First up, the Quinnipac Bobcats, in the Big East opener for Temple. The Owls went into the half down 3-0. They would explode for six goals in the second half, winning 6-3. The six goals are the most scored in a half this season, and ties for the most goals in a game for the Owls.
Senior McKenna Burkhardt got the second half onslaught started in the 33rd minute, on a penalty shot. She would lead the Owls with four shots in the game. Junior Myrthe Schuilenberg was also awarded a penalty shot and also converted to make it 2-0. Schuilenberg’s second goal of the 3rd quarter would give the Owls the lead the rest of the way.
“Our backs were against the wall, but the ladies found a way to pull us out of it. This is a deeply moving experience for them, because they know that no matter what they are capable of greatness. We weren’t really connected in the first half, but we were able to turn it around and see impactful performances as a group. Overall, they fought for each other and did this together.”
Temple Field Hockey Head Coach Michelle Vittese
Two days later, the Owls hosted and defeated in-city rival LaSalle, 2-0. Caitlyn Amsden and standout sophomore Julianne Kopec were the goal scorers for Temple. The Owls out shot LaSalle 10-4, with all four of the Explorer’s shots not coming until the second half.
The next two games for the Owls will again be against local rivals. First with Big East opponent Villanova on the Main Line, and then back at Howarth Field for a date with Penn.
Women’s Tennis
Men’s and women’s tennis were both in action over the weekend in two separate invitationals at in-city rival schools. The women competed at Villanova, while the men were at Penn.
In the Villanova Invite, Temple went up against Delaware, Drexel, and the host Wildcats. The Owls went 0-4 in doubles competition vs Delaware on day one. They would fare slightly better in singles competition, splitting the six contests, 3-3.
On day two vs Drexel, the Owls dominated, winning two of three doubles matches, and four of six singles matches. Freshman Maiko Uchijima won in both of her contests.
On Day three vs Villanova, the Owls would roll to a sweep in doubles competition, taking all three matches. In singles competition, the Owls again won four of their six contests.
“We had a very successful opening weekend. We played really well in both doubles and singles play. We’ve been experimenting with different doubles combinations, as it’s still very early in the fall season, but so far, we’re really happy with our performances.”
Temple Women’s Tennis Head Coach Steve Mauro
The Owls are back in action at Penn next weekend where they’ll compete in the Cissie Leary Invite.
Men’s Tennis
As mentioned earlier, the men were competing at University City in the Penn Invite over the weekend. The Owls went up against Dartmouth, Drexel, Liberty & Princeton.
On day one, the Owls went up against Drexel & Dartmouth simultaneously, taking three of four doubles contests. The Owls dominated in singles competition, taking six of seven over both schools.
On day two vs Liberty, the Owls’ success at the invite would continue, taking two of three in doubles. However, that momentum would come to a screeching halt when the Owls were swept in singles competition.
As the weekend wrapped up on day three, the Owls would look to shake off a disappointing second half of their Saturday. On Sunday, they took on Princeton, and didn’t fare much better.
The Owls would drop two of three in doubles, and then dropped four of six in singles. Despite the disappointing outcomes of Saturday & Sunday, Temple Men’s & Women’s Tennis Head Coach Steve Mauro was still encouraged from what he saw out of his squad:
“We played some great tennis this weekend against some very strong competition. I was very impressed with our performance in doubles play and our singles play was also extremely strong. Out student-athletes played with a lot of enthusiasm and we’re really looking forward to continuing to improve the rest of the fall.”
Men’s tennis will not be back in action until early October, when they travel to Tulsa, Okla. to compete in the ITA All-American Tournament (10/4-10/7).
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