Fall semester has now settled in at Temple University, which means fall athletics are back in full swing. Football secured their first win of the season and in the head coaching career of Stan Drayton. Women’s Volleyball split two contests in the Cornell Tournament. And men’s soccer took on Penn in a Philly Soccer Six matchup.
That’s not all that transpired in week 2 however, so let’s break it all down sport by sport, in the Weekly Roundup.
Football
On Saturday, Temple Football defeated the Lafayette Cougars 30-14, which improves them to 1-1 on the season. The big story coming out of the game was the quarterback situation, which has been a common theme for Temple Football the last couple of seasons.
Following two fumbles, QB D’Wan Mathis was benched in favor for EJ Warner. The true freshman would finish the day completing 14 of 19 passes, with 173 yards and two touchdowns. Head Coach Stan Drayton made it known that Warner did not automatically win the starting position vs Rutgers. Drayton wants his players to earn their snaps every day, all throughout the depth chart.
The defensive front made their presence known on Saturday, racking up eight sacks. Redshirt sophomore Jordan Magee proved why he has a single digit jersey. The Owls linebacker picked up eight total tackles, 2.5 of which for a loss.
De’Von Fox earned player of the game honors for his three blocked punts. Fox now has more blocked kicks than any other team in the country as of Monday, earning him Special Teams Player of the Week honors in The American.
“Obviously played a little better, we played good enough to get a W. [I’m] really excited about our guys handling the pressures within the game. [I] thought our defense played really good football. We were put in tough situations and they were able to get us out of it.”
Temple Football Head Coach Stan Drayton
The Owls will next host Rutgers on Saturday at 2pm. The full breakdown of the win over Lafayette can be found here.
Volleyball
Women’s Volleyball are even steven at 4-4 on the season thus far, after three contests in New York State. First on Friday, (9/9) the Owls fell three sets to one against Albany. Every set won by Albany was won with a score of 25-22. The lone set the Owls won had a score of 25-18. Albany was previously winless before the match.
The following day, the Owls played in a pair of contests, as part of the Cornell Tournament. First in the day cap, the Owls dropped their second consecutive match, this time to Colgate, three sets to one. The Raiders outscored the Owls in every major category, except for blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Taylor Davenport was a standout for the Owls in the loss, leading all contestants with 20 kills.
Despite the loss, the Owls needed to a have a short memory and get right back to work. They would do just that, as later in the evening, the Owls defeated the host Cornell Big Red, in three sets to two. The aforementioned Davenport led the way for the Owls, with another 16 kills, bringing her season total to 129 thus far.
Up next for the Owls: a matinee matchup with Providence at The Palestra, as part of the Penn Invitational.
Men’s Soccer
Last Monday, the Owls picked up their second draw of the season, 1-1 in a matchup with Penn. Mike Eijgendaal scored the lone goal for the cherry & white, his second of the season, which came in the 24th minute. After taking the lead into the half, the Owls came out of the break sloppy, and were hit with three yellow cards.
Subsequently, the Quakers would cash in with an equalizer goal from Nick Schimbeno in the 60th minute.
Although their football counterparts took care of Lafayette, men’s soccer unfortunately could not say the same. The Leopards defeated the Owls, 3-1 last Friday. Defender/Midfielder Fabian Grant scored the lone goal for Temple. It’s the first the in the collegiate career of the graduate student.
The Leopards would proceed to fire in consecutive goals before the half. They added an insurance goal just nine minutes into the second half, putting the Owls away for the night
“We caused our own problems. Our reaction should’ve been better when things started to go wrong. We have to work hard and be better going forward.”
Temple Men’s Soccer Head Coach Brian Rowland
The Owls now sit at 1-2-2. They are currently in the midst of a four game homestand. Game three is a Tuesday night contest with the St. Peter’s Peacocks.
Women’s Soccer
It has been a bit of a rough start for Temple Women’s Soccer. They are currently winless on the 2022-23 season, with a record of 0-2-4. They only played one contest last week, a draw vs city rival Drexel, in University City last Thursday.
The Dragons dominated possession throughout, out shooting the Owls 22-3. Only eight of Drexel’s shots made it to goal however. Sophomore goalkeeper Kyla Burns had to be perfect to keep the Owls in the contest, and she was, stopping all eight tries.
“What we can say is that Kyla has been a really strong backbone to our defense this year. She’s posted three clean sheets in five starts and her ability to stay consistent has been a very important factor in our confidence as a defensive unit this season that we’re excited to carry into conference play.”
Temple Women’s Soccer Head Coach Nick Bochette
The Owls are close to wrapping up their six game road stretch in the schedule with their first conference matchup vs Tulsa. That contest can be seen on ESPN+ at 8pm this Thursday (9/13).
Field Hockey
Temple Field Hockey is off to an impressive start to their 2022 season, with a record of 5-1. Last week, the Owls won a pair of contests, first defeating LIU at home in a 5-1 contest. Five different Owls would score goals in the match. Temple outshot the Sharks 17-4, with 12 of those shots on goal.
Two days later, they would travel to Bucknell, where they would defeat the Bison in an early Sunday matinee, 5-2. Sophomore Julianna Kopec led the way with two goals, in fact scoring the first two goals of the game, setting the tone for the afternoon. Kopec now has three goals on the season.
“I’m proud of our collective team effort today. Bucknell is a great opponent but we can out prepared and set the tone. Overall, we were able to execute our game plan and play to our strengths. I’m excited for the group and I’m looking forward to BIG EAST play.”
Temple Field Hockey Head Coach Michelle Vittese
The Owls will indeed begin the conference portion of their schedule, when they host Quinnipac on Friday (9/16) at Howarth Field.
Cross Country
And finally, both the men’s and women’s cross country squads shined in the Fordham Fiasco in the Bronx last Saturday.
On the women’s side of things, freshman Elvira Bredin led the entire pack, finishing 1st overall at Van Courtlandt Park. Bredin clocked in a time of 19:03.6. Four other Owls would finish in the top ten in the 5k course.
For the men, they also dominated at Van Courtlandt, finishing first over Cornell, Fairleigh Dickinson, Mansfield, and Seton Hall. The top nine were ALL Owls, led by three sophomores: Erik Kain (25:55.7), Cole Frank (25:57.1), and Graham Thomas (26:03.7).
The next XC meet for the Owls will take place on September 23rd, in the 36th Annual Roy Griak Invite.
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