Owls Host Penn on Sunday at 1 pm for National Field Hockey Day

Sunday, September 13

Geasey Field

1:00 p.m.

Temple University

Penn

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Owls Host Penn on Sunday at 1 pm for National Field Hockey Day

9.12.15 | Field Hockey

PHILADELPHIA - Fans can welcome Temple field hockey back home tomorrow at 1 p.m. as the Owls host city rival Penn at Geasey Field. Temple will be celebrating USFHA National Field Hockey Day, officially recognized on Sept. 14, and the Owls will have a very special guest in attendance.

22885 — U.S. National Team member Michelle Vittese

U.S. Field Hockey National Team member Michelle Vittese will be on hand to speak at halftime and sign autographs after the game. Vittese, the sister of Temple's director of operations Carissa Vittese, made the national team in 2012 and has racked up numerous achievements since. She played on the Olympic Team in London that same year, was a part of the 2014 Champions Challenge gold-medal squad, and a member of the fourth-place World Cup team last summer.

Temple is coming off a high-scoring loss at #18 Delaware on Friday night as the Owls fell 7-4 to the Blue Hens. Senior Sarah Deck, Temple's leading scorer in 2015 with five goals, scored twice in the game. The Owls were able to answer Delaware goal for goal for much of the game after falling into a 2-0 hole, but could not tie the score while the Blue Hens sealed the victory with the final two goals of the game.

All three of Temple's losses so far are to teams ranked in the Top 20. The Owls boast a 9-0 win against Towson and a 3-2 win against Saint Joseph's last week.

Temple holds an all-time record of 33-14-2 against Penn. The two teams have not met since 2010 when the Owls won 4-1 at home. They have won two straight, also earning a 3-0 home win in 2009.

Scouting Penn
The Quakers have gone 2-1 to start the season, with their only loss coming by a score of 4-3 at Liberty, a team now ranked 17th in the NFHCA Top 20 Poll. On Friday night, Penn took down Saint Joseph's 7-3 and got a single-game program-record five goals from sophomore Alexa Hoover. The 2014 Ivy League Rookie of the Year had also scored five of the Quakers' goals in their opening weekend of play, and was named the co-Ivy Player of the Week.

Penn is coming off an 8-9 record a season ago, and is under the direction of sixth-year head coach Colleen Fink.

Temple head coach Marybeth Freeman spent the past five seasons at Columbia, facing Fink's Penn team each year as fellow members of the Ivy League. The rivalry was a heated one, with Freeman's team earning 4-3 overtime wins in both 2014 and 2013, and a 3-2 overtime win in 2012. Columbia's only loss to Penn in Freeman's tenure was a 3-2 overtime defeat in 2010.

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