What a week for Temple University. The Inauguration of Dr. Jason Wingard as the University’s 12th President. Homecoming and Family Weekend. It truly was a week full of amazing events; a special time to be an Owl!!

It was also a good week for Temple Athletics. Field Hockey continues to lead the way for our fall sports teams. Coach Vittese has led her team to a 7-1 record, including an incredible come-from-behind win over Quinnipiac in our conference opener. The Owls trailed 3-0 at the half and came out of the locker room on fire, scoring four third quarter goals en route to a 6-3 win. Be sure to catch the team at our next home game on Sunday, September 25 vs. Penn at noon!

Football celebrated its first win in the Stan Drayton era against Lafayette on Sept. 10, but had a tough Homecoming loss to Rutgers Saturday. Coach Drayton said in postgame that we do not celebrate “moral victories”, but I am so proud of the way our team fought against Rutgers. Last season we lost at Rutgers, 61-14, and this year we held the Scarlet Knights without an offensive touchdown and were in the game until the very end, falling 16-14. We have to grow from the game and continue working to improve every day.

I also want to thank the students, alumni and fans who attended Homecoming. What tremendous energy and great atmosphere for our student-athletes at Lincoln Financial Field. We need all our teams to feel your energy at their home games. THANK YOU!!

And as much as we appreciated the great turnout Saturday, we need all fans to be inside Lincoln Financial Field at the start of our games to support our student-athletes. More than 10,000 fans were scanned in after kickoff. Our team needs you in your seats when we kickoff.

Congrats to our Temple Golf team for their first win of the season this weekend at the Cornell/Temple Fall Invite and to sophomore Ethan Whitney on his first collegiate victory. Ethan shot a five-under 135 over the two days and was the only golfer in the 85-player field to shoot under par on the final round Sunday. Also, a big shoutout to the staff and volunteers at The 1912 Club who helped make this a first class event!

Men’s and Women’s Cross Country each won at the Fordham Fiasco with Erik Kain and Elvira Bredin winning their respective races, the first wins of their collegiate careers. Volleyball has won three of its last four matches, including wins over Providence and Penn this past weekend, to improve to 6-5 on the season. Men’s and Women’s Tennis successfully opened their fall season at the Penn and Villanova Invites. Unfortunately, men’s and women’s soccer both lost their respective American Athletic Conference openers last week.

I am happy to announce that Tara Evans has been selected to lead the Nancy and Donald Resnick Academic Support Center for Student-Athletes. Tara has been Justin Miller’s right hand for the last seven years so under her leadership I am confident that we will not only continue our student-athletes success in the classroom but raise the bar even higher.

In case you missed it, our hard-working and incredibly talented Director of Equipment Operations was featured in our biweekly Staff Spotlight. Liz does a tremendous job of working with our coaches to make sure our student-athletes have the proper equipment and apparel needed to compete at the highest level.

Coming up this Saturday at our Football game against UMass we will be honoring past championship teams and individuals in our first annual Champions Day. We are bringing back 13 championship teams and multiple individual champions celebrating anniversaries this calendar year. The 1982 AIAW National Champion Women’s Lacrosse Team, the 1992 NCAA Fencing Championship Team and the 1972 Baseball Team that competed at the College World Series are among the returning teams. It will be great to visit with all these former student-athletes and recognize them during the game.

Special shoutout to our Athletes of the Week since my last edition of From The Nest: Field Hockey - McKenna Burkhardt, BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week (9/13); Football – De’Von Fox, AAC Football Specialist of the Week (9/12), OwlSports.com Athlete of the Week (9/12); Golf – Ethan Whitney, OwlSport.com (9/19); Women’s Soccer - Kyla Burns, AAC Women’s Soccer Goalkeeper of the Week (9/12)

Please come out and continue to support all our Temple Athletics teams. Below is a link to our composite schedule.

Lastly, the Men’s and Women’s Basketball seasons start in just over six weeks. Season tickets are on sale now. Click below to purchase.

Missed an edition? See all past newsletters HERE.