Injuries dash team’s expectations

Temple News

Posted on 10 April 2007 by admin

The men’s tennis team cannot seem to shake the injury bug this season. The Owls, who entered the season with high expectations following a successful 2006 season, were seriously hurt by the compounding amount of bumps and bruises that they ultimately suffered.

The team hobbled into last weekend’s Atlantic Ten Conference tournament in Monroeville, Pa., looking to make a splash but came up a little short of its goal. A 4-3 loss Thursday to Saint Louis ended the Owls’ hopes of an A-10 title. The next day, the Owls (9-13) defeated Philadelphia rival La Salle, 6-0, in a consolation match to end the year on a positive note.

“Toward the end of the year, we were really
banged up,” coach Steve Mauro said. “We just never really had a chance to heal once the season started.”

Two top players spent a majority of the season injured. The Owls’ No. 1 player, sophomore Eduardo Saavedra, but was posted a 6-5 individual record, was hampered with both wrist and ankle injuries. Junior Philip Gegenheimer, who went 9-9, sat out most of the year with a shoulder injury. It was a tough ending for a team that was poised to breakout this year, Mauro said.

“We were forced to work a little harder with these guys injured,” Mauro said. “In the end it all caught up to us.”

The season started promisingly, as the Owls had two three-match winning streaks. But the Owls lost six of their last seven matches, with a win against La Salle in their season finale ultimately saving them from ending the year on a seven-game slide.

Though Saavedra was still dealing with his injuries at the A-10 tournament, Mauro credited Saavedra with being a player who had stepped up toward the end. Saavedra won each of his matches at the tournament.

“He really impressed us and played well,” Mauro said.

With the season ending short of an A-10 Championship, that does not mean it is not too early to speculate about next year. The Owls will have to rebound from the departure of their lone senior Daniel Davis, but will be adding at least three top recruits to an already heavy returning class.

“We have two recruits from Atlanta coming
and a top player from Chicago coming for next season,” Mauro said. “We also will have a transfer player coming to us from Lees McRae College in North Carolina.”

Injuries or not, the losing will be all but forgotten and the coaches and players will work hard in the off-season to make sure next season is a memorable one.

Early five-goal deficit too big to overcome

Temple News

Posted on 03 April 2007 by admin

When the lacrosse team entered its game against No. 18 Rutgers Friday, the Owls wanted to stop the bleeding of their young season. The Owls, who as recently as last season were nationally ranked, had started the season slowly - especially on offense.

They brought a 2-5 record into their meeting with Rutgers, and looked to snap their two-game losing streak. But the bleeding continued. The Scarlet Knights scored the first five goals of the game and the Owls failed to make a serious push to even the score, eventually falling, 14-10, at Geasey Field.

Rutgers sophomore Nina Frankoski opened the scoring at the 22:08 mark with a crafty goal just over the left shoulder of Temple goalie Bridget McMullan.

Frankoski scored three of the Knights’ first five goals, and added four more for a game-high seven goals.Allison Frengs finally got Temple (2-6) on the board with 13:33 left in the first half. The senior captain slashed to the middle of the field, was briefly tripped up, but regained her balance long enough to net her first of a team-high four goals.

Moments later, Frengs had another goal attempt to bring the Owls within three, but a terrific save by Rutgers goalie Sandra Abel stopped her cold. Shortly after Abel’s save, Casey Cech beat the goalie, as Abel came away on top of a mad scramble in front of the goal to net another Temple goal. The rest of the first half was played at a pace that better suited Temple, as Rutgers’
speed seemed to throw the Owls off of their game early.

As the Owls regained control of the tempo, they brought themselves back into the game.

With 9:15 left in the first half, Frengs added her second goal of the game to bring Temple within two, at 5-3. The momentum however, swayed back to Rutgers, as Frankoski added two straight goals to pad Rutgers’ lead to 7-3 and boost her first-half goal total to five. Cech added the second of her three goals a few minutes before halftime and the 7-4 scored held until the break.

The second half was a similar story for Temple. The Owls gave up three unanswered goals in the first nine minutes to start the period.

Temple’s Whitney Richards added a goal at the 18:25 mark to answer the Knights (8-2) and Nicole Caniglia notched another a few minutes later to pull Temple’s deficit to 10-6. But Rutgers was able to withhold the Owls’ attack and build its lead back to five with just fewer than five minutes left.

Temple made a frantic comeback attempt
in the final minutes, but it was a case of too little too late. Frengs scored two goals and Cech knocked in another in the span of about a minute, pulling the Owls within 13-10 with 1:36 left. A final goal by Rutgers’ Jamie Farewell ended any last-minute comeback.

Temple will try to bounce back Friday when it hosts Massachusetts in a 3 p.m. tilt at Geasey Field.

Teams expect nothing less than a win at Murphy Cup

Temple News

Posted on 20 March 2007 by admin

The men’s and women’s crew teams are ready to make a splash at their seasons’ first Philadelphia regatta.

The 25th annual Murphy Cup Regatta kicks off Saturday at 11 a.m. on the Schuylkill River.

“I expect to win it,” men’s coach Dr. Gavin White said. “Our goal of every regatta is to win it.”

The coach holds his team to a higher standard, as they’ve won 23 of the first 24 Murphy Cup regattas.But the Murphy Cup - the only regatta hosted by Temple during
the season - is just the beginning of what White calls an “ambitious” spring schedule.

He said the schedule will help the team prepare for what looks to be a competitive season, especially between Temple and city rival Saint Joseph’s. White said the Hawks are “loaded” with a number of new recruits assisting an already mature team.

When all is said and done, the men’s team will hope to have accomplished one goal. That is to win the annual Dad Vail Regatta, held annually in Philadelphia at the conclusion of the season.

“If we lose every regatta and win the Dad Vail, then it’s a good year,” White said, “but if we win every other regatta and lose the Dad Vail, then it is just a mediocre year.”

Led by seniors Chris Bushek and Dante Cammarata, White said the team has grown up and bounced back from what was considered to be a down season two years ago.

The men’s and women’s teams, which share a boathouse on the Schuylkill, recently spent more than 10 hours together on a bus trip to Florida.

Once there, both teams opened their seasons competing in the Keuper Cup. The men’s regatta was held in Felsmere while the women’s regatta took place in Melbourne.

The men’s team started strong, as four of its boats finished among the top two. The Varsity 4, Varsity 4 “B” and the Varsity 8 “B” each topped the competition in their respective races while the Varsity 8 was bested by only Florida Tech.

The women’s team also saw three of its boats finish first - the Varsity 8, Varsity 8 “B” and Varsity 4. The Lightweight 4, Novice 4 and Novice 8 each finished in second place. “I’m always rooting hard for the women and they do the same for us,” White said of the camaraderie of the teams.

The women also feed off of their leader, third-year coach Tim Hagan. “We just want to go out there and contend and try to win the Murphy Cup,” Hagan said.

Winning the Murphy Cup, however, will not be an easy feat. Hagan said other area teams appear to be loaded with talent to try to usurp the Owls.

“Villanova and St. Joe’s look to be really tough this year,” Hagan said.

Hagan said he enjoys the Murphy Cup experience and how big the event has become in the last quarter-century.

“Twenty-five years ago, Temple was one of two schools involved in the Murphy Cup,” Hagan said. “This year there will most likely be over 30 schools from all over the country coming to compete with us.”

Upperclassmen don’t anticipate any slip-ups under new head coach

Temple News

Posted on 20 February 2007 by admin

The lacrosse team, facing a year of adjustments and high expectations, expects big things from its new coach, Bonnie Rosen, who takes over a team that is rich with veteran talent and leadership.

The Owls return six seniors and seven juniors, including Casey Cech and Allison Frengs, who each were named to the All-Atlantic Ten Conference first team last season.

“It is the best situation to come into,” the first-year coach said. “It’s the best situation to come into with all these upperclassmen showing leadership.”

Rosen said she realizes she has walked into a special situation, with many veterans set to lead the way. While Rosen has had to adjust to coaching new faces after spending 10 years at Connecticut, the Owls have had to adjust to their new coach as well.

“Between this year and last year, the coaches have very different styles,” said Cech, a senior midfielder. “We have done some different things this year, such as a zone defense, which we never would have done in the past.”

While the team has adjusted to the style of its coach, several Owls said they will not accept any type of failure this year.

“We expect to win the A-10,” senior defenseman Jessica Chadwin said. “We are on a mission.”

“We want to enjoy the season, have fun and make it a memorable one,” said Frengs, a senior midfielder.

They aren’t the only ones with high expectations. A-10 coaches recently picked the Owls to finish in a second-place tie with Duquesne. One of the Owls’ main strengths will be their ability to adapt in practice and change their game plan to adjust to their opponents, Rosen said.

“We are a very versatile team,” Rosen said. “We can play many different styles of the game and we are very athletic, which will help us change our game plan if needed.”

While their versatility is a huge strength, the team is not flawless.

“We want to get better, not just every game, but every single day we want to get better,” the coach said. “We need to get fundamentally better on defense and refine all of our skills until we get to where we need to be.”

Rosen said the fact that the team is cohesive will make the Owls a special team.

“Everyone brings something to the team,” Rosen said. “The entire team is an asset to have, and in this day and age, that is very rare.”

The Owls’ season opens against Virginia Sunday. The game, set to be played at Geasey Field, begins at 1 p.m.

Players hoping to be rulers of the court

Temple News

Posted on 13 February 2007 by admin

The men’s tennis team wants to make sure they are not labeled as one-year wonders.
The Owls surprised the Atlantic Ten Conference last season by placing
third at the conference
tournament, a year removed from winning just three games.

“We had the attitude
that we could win and compete,” said coach Steve Mauro, who turned around the team in his first year at Temple.

While the team is proud of what they accomplished last year, they are by no means taking last year’s success for granted. They opened the A-10 schedule with a 5-1 loss Sunday at Duquesne.

The Owls are led by a strong group of upperclassmen, including senior Daniel Davis and juniors Kris Celtnieks, Philip Gegenheimer and Zach Tobias. This veteran core is joined by freshman Pavlos Stephanides, who was recently recognized
as A-10 Rookie of the Week for his efforts
against Saint Francis and Swarthmore.

While the coaching staff is excited about the players they have, the A-10 is going to be no cakewalk. Mauro said the conference looks to be very formidable and, if nothing else, very balanced.

“There are a lot of strong teams out there,” Mauro said. “Charlotte appears to be a notch better then everyone else, while the rest of the conference is all about the same strength.”

While the team is geared up for a tough conference schedule, the games leading to conference play have been very positive.

“We have been very enthusiastic and have worked very hard,” Mauro said. “We showed a lot of unity and solid chemistry in our win against Swarthmore.”

Tobias has opened the eyes of the coaching staff.”

Zach didn’t start as a sophomore, but has stepped up and come up big for us so far this year,” Mauro said.

“I, personally, want to keep on winning and doing my part,” Tobias said. “As a team, we want to finish at least as well as we did last year.”

Mauro said there appears to be a change in attitude. In years past, the team did not necessarily believe in their talents, he said.

“Our kids didn’t really believe that they were as good as they were,” Mauro said.

“When we beat Richmond last year, it gave us a confidence that we didn’t previously have.”"As our team gets better and better, we get more and more confident,” sophomore Eduardo Saavedra said. “It is good to get to see our friends within the athletic department have confidence and support for us.”

While the team has its goals for the upcoming A-10 season, their coach realizes that it is a long season and anything can happen. “We hope to be healthy and fresh when tournament time comes along,” Mauro said.

While support for tennis isn’t exactly great among the student body, the coach hopes winning will cure all that ails.

“We hope us being competitive will lead to new fans,” Mauro said. “Our first big home game is Saturday against Richmond.”