Beyond football: Fall sports at Temple
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-623e45a2-0051-1ca0-4d0f-5e31eaf441c9"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">Unless you live under a rock, which hopefully you don’t, because yuck, you know about Temple football. That Owls have been kicking Minuteman and Bearcat and AND NITTANY LION butt on the gridiron. But football isn’t the only Owls team to watch this fall. Here’s a quick guide to some of Temple’s </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">other</span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"> fall sports.</span></span></p>
Photography By:
Joseph V. Labolito
Story by:
Hillel Hoffman
ROAD TRIP!
No Temple team is off to a hotter start this fall than undefeated men’s soccer—now No. 17 in the nation, the team’s highest rank since the 1980s. Women’s soccer is red-hot, too, at 8-2, one the best debuts in team history, and they boast the nation’s leading goal scorer, senior Kelly Farrell. Both teams play their home games at the gorgeous Ambler Sports Complex in, um, Ambler. On weekdays, take a free shuttle bus to Ambler Campus from either Main Campus or the Ambler SEPTA Regional Rail station. On weekends, you’ll have to drive or catch a ride with a soccer-loving pal, but unlike in the entire city of Philadelphia, parking is plentiful out in the ’burbs. There are lots of home games left on the men’s and women’s schedule, including three critical American Athletic Conference matches during Homecoming. And if you can’t get to Ambler, watch home soccer games for free on OwlsTV.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
Volleyball fans know how to bring the noise. And the fun. Lucky for you, Owls, there are 10 noisy, fun women’s volleyball home matches left on the schedule, including a few themed Friday night matches. For example, wear your island gear to Hawaiian Night on Friday, Oct. 2, Temple’s home conference debut against Memphis; go color-free to the raucous annual White Out game against defending conference champion Central Florida on Friday, Nov. 13. The team itself is looking pretty good, too—they finished third in the American Athletic Conference last year and are back in the hunt in 2015 with a 9-3 record going into conference play. Tip for weather wimps: Volleyball is played indoors at McGonigle Hall, perfect for when fall starts to feel a bit wintry.
A GAME WITH A VIEW
Want to spend time in the sun during the last few warm weeks of the year? There’s only one place in North Philadelphia where you can catch some rays, enjoy world-class athletic competition and get a good view of the Philly skyline: Geasey Field, home of Temple field hockey, a program that has been nationally ranked in each of the last two seasons. Led by new head coach Marybeth Freeman, the Owls play in one of the nation’s toughest conferences, the Big East. Indeed, no Temple fall team plays a more brutal lineup of opponents, including No. 13 Liberty and Connecticut, the top-ranked team in the nation. Another one not to miss: Senior Day, honoring 10 Owls at their final home game, when Temple faces conference foe Georgetown on Friday, Oct. 23—a matchup that’s likely to play a role in Big East playoff seedings.