Temple University Athletics
Photo by: Terri Batze
Reflecting on a Strong Spring Season for Temple Field Hockey
5.8.19 | Field Hockey
PHILADELPHIA - Under new head coach Susan Ciufo, the Temple field hockey team showed marked improvement in its 2019 spring season. The Owls went 8-4 overall in 12 contests and advanced to the championship game in both of their spring tournaments.
To start the spring, the Owls earned a win over Bucknell before losing to Towson on the second weekend. Temple played five shortened games during a play day at Drexel and went 3-2 overall, ultimately falling to Villanova in a shootout in the championship game.Â
On the final weekend of the spring at Temple's own Philly 6 Tournament, the Owls had their best outing and went 4-1 overall, losing only in the championship contest.
Ciufo talked to OwlSports.com about her thoughts on the Owls' spring season, her new staff, the team's improvement and the future of the program. Â
This spring was defined by transition and growth. We were fortunate to take over in February and have three months to begin the foundation of our program moving forward. Having the time to build our fitness, hockey IQ, technical skill and overall team culture was critical in the success we started to see this spring. From the minute our staff arrived, we put a big emphasis on the details. A big part of those details were identifying who we want to be. More importantly, identifying how we were going to become what we envisioned for ourselves and for those who wear the Temple uniform in the future.Â
For us, we used spring to get our foundation down physically and mentally. After starting out with a win at Bucknell, it was evident our team was putting in the necessary work to start the new chapter for this program. Throughout spring, we became more unified, more tenacious in the attacking circle (scoring 15 goals in the five competition days we had), possessed the ball far more than in the past, and found a new understanding of what being hockey fit truly means.
I was beyond impressed with this family throughout a transition period. We are truly united. Without the leadership of our upperclassmen, it wouldn't have been as smooth of a transition. It didn't feel as though we were separated by class. The upperclassmen did an amazing job leading from behind. With that, we have a team full of leaders and I couldn't be more proud.Â
In addition, the staff we have in place is beyond elite. Michelle, Ross and Courtney make my job easy. We all get along outside of work, love every single one of the members on this team, and are passionate about this game and creating a culture of success.Â
The past three months have had many groundbreaking moments and moments of hard conversation in order to continue our process of becoming a winning team on and off the field. In all honesty, what most impresses me is the selflessness this team shows day in and day out. This team is full of young women with a growth mindset and a fire to be better than they were yesterday. These ladies were resilient this entire year. If we started out slow in a practice or game we were able to regroup and refocus on the task at hand. That in itself is a win. As the spring season progressed we gained confidence and had a lot of fun doing so. Everyone on this team has showed growth in every aspect.
We are really excited about what the future holds in the fall and beyond. We are ready for the next challenge to come our way and plan on staying relentless in the pursuit of our goals. We have a great group of incoming freshmen arriving in August. Paired with the foundation of what has been built with the current team, we are confident that this season is going to be the start of the future of Temple field hockey.
- Head Coach Susan Ciufo
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To start the spring, the Owls earned a win over Bucknell before losing to Towson on the second weekend. Temple played five shortened games during a play day at Drexel and went 3-2 overall, ultimately falling to Villanova in a shootout in the championship game.Â
On the final weekend of the spring at Temple's own Philly 6 Tournament, the Owls had their best outing and went 4-1 overall, losing only in the championship contest.
Ciufo talked to OwlSports.com about her thoughts on the Owls' spring season, her new staff, the team's improvement and the future of the program. Â
This spring was defined by transition and growth. We were fortunate to take over in February and have three months to begin the foundation of our program moving forward. Having the time to build our fitness, hockey IQ, technical skill and overall team culture was critical in the success we started to see this spring. From the minute our staff arrived, we put a big emphasis on the details. A big part of those details were identifying who we want to be. More importantly, identifying how we were going to become what we envisioned for ourselves and for those who wear the Temple uniform in the future.Â
For us, we used spring to get our foundation down physically and mentally. After starting out with a win at Bucknell, it was evident our team was putting in the necessary work to start the new chapter for this program. Throughout spring, we became more unified, more tenacious in the attacking circle (scoring 15 goals in the five competition days we had), possessed the ball far more than in the past, and found a new understanding of what being hockey fit truly means.
I was beyond impressed with this family throughout a transition period. We are truly united. Without the leadership of our upperclassmen, it wouldn't have been as smooth of a transition. It didn't feel as though we were separated by class. The upperclassmen did an amazing job leading from behind. With that, we have a team full of leaders and I couldn't be more proud.Â
In addition, the staff we have in place is beyond elite. Michelle, Ross and Courtney make my job easy. We all get along outside of work, love every single one of the members on this team, and are passionate about this game and creating a culture of success.Â
The past three months have had many groundbreaking moments and moments of hard conversation in order to continue our process of becoming a winning team on and off the field. In all honesty, what most impresses me is the selflessness this team shows day in and day out. This team is full of young women with a growth mindset and a fire to be better than they were yesterday. These ladies were resilient this entire year. If we started out slow in a practice or game we were able to regroup and refocus on the task at hand. That in itself is a win. As the spring season progressed we gained confidence and had a lot of fun doing so. Everyone on this team has showed growth in every aspect.
We are really excited about what the future holds in the fall and beyond. We are ready for the next challenge to come our way and plan on staying relentless in the pursuit of our goals. We have a great group of incoming freshmen arriving in August. Paired with the foundation of what has been built with the current team, we are confident that this season is going to be the start of the future of Temple field hockey.
- Head Coach Susan Ciufo
Â
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