Club field hockey holds breast cancer awareness fundraiser

Temple’s first-annual event raised more than $1,000 on Saturday at Howarth Field.

Junior forward Megan Casselberry controls the ball during the Owls’ breast cancer awareness tournament against West Chester University and Villanova on Saturday at Howarth Field. | CHIA YU LIAO / THE TEMPLE NEWS

Rachel Green often wears a necklace her grandmother gave her when she isn’t playing.

The necklace reminds Green of her grandmother’s ongoing battle against breast cancer. She was diagnosed with the disease in June. Green, a sophomore midfielder on the club field hockey squad, and her teammates knew they wanted to organize a fundraiser to help efforts to fight the disease once the season started.  

On Saturday, the Owls hosted their first annual breast cancer awareness tournament at Howarth Field. The tournament was organized through Play4theCure, which is a fundraising platform for the National Foundation for Cancer Research. The Owls raised $1,084 for the National Foundation for Cancer Research through online donations and a raffle held throughout Saturday’s event, club president and junior defender Emily Wells wrote in an email.

The team chose to hold the tournament in October because it is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Wells said.

In 2014, the year with the most recent data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 240,000 Americans were diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 41,000 people died from the disease.

“In my whole career, we’ve always had breast cancer awareness games in October,” Green said. “It was always special to raise money and make awareness for the disease. Now, since one of the closest people to me actually has it, the game’s even more special. It was a great day. Raising the money was fun, and it means a lot more than it ever did before.”

Temple wore pink shirts and headbands in its games against West Chester University and Villanova in order to raise awareness.

The Owls went 1-0-1 in the tournament with a draw against West Chester and a 2-0 shutout win against Villanova. West Chester defeated Villanova, 5-3.

Temple’s Division I volleyball team also raised money for breast cancer awareness during its match against Cincinnati on Oct. 8 at McGonigle Hall.

Green hopes she can participate in more walks and events with her family in order to raise awareness in the future.

“I think that it’s really important that people are aware of this because there have been so many people who have been affected by this kind of cancer,” Wells said. “I feel like it would definitely bring more awareness.”

“It’s nice to bring in the money because any little bit counts,” Green said. “Hopefully, a lot of people will come out and see the effect that even a club sport team can have on such an awful disease.”

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