Owls tied for second after first C-USA matches

By Yan Digilov     10/2/08 7:00pm

A weekend split left the Owls' position in the Conference USA standings up in the air. They find themselves in a 10-way tie for second place, behind East Carolina University, who beat the Owls 2-0 on Friday at the Rice Track and Soccer Stadium."The thing about conference is that on any given day, anything can happen," senior captain Christine Petric said. "This weekend proved it. This was a game we could have won if we had played our best."

The Owls faced ECU with high hopes after running with eighth-ranked Texas A&M to a tie for 81 minutes the week prior. Though they came out firing and out-shot the Pirates 15-7, a combination of poor formation and mental lapses led to an opposing goal in the 39th minute.

With only their second shot of the game, ECU took the 1-0 advantage after senior Savanna Russo played a pass 18 yards from the goal. For the fourth time in the season, the defense allowed a second goal in the 69th minute, as the Pirates ran away with the C-USA opener.

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The team's poor form was in part due to recent injuries that have forced the defensive unit to continually adjust to new personnel, creating a challenge for assistant coach Craig Waibel to prepare a backline with only a week's notice.

"The first thing was getting them to understand that they need to communicate," he said. "Part of communicating on a soccer field is not always niceties, chocolates and flowers. They had to learn quickly not to take offense to demands and to demand more of one another."

The challenges to team chemistry caused by injury showed as players continually found themselves scrambling to catch up with one another, failing to repeat the consistent ball movement that they exhibited against Texas A&M.

"I told them that the best thing about college soccer is that you get two games a weekend," Waibel said. "They only have to wait one and a half days for the next game, and they did the right thing and came out and got the win on Sunday."

Seeking vindication, the Owls continued their offensive pressure against Marshall on Sunday. In the second home game of the weekend, the squad got on the board first with a goal from freshman Amy Beger in the 13th minute. Beger's ball came from freshman and fellow Missouri native Chealsey Russell, who made her first start of the year.

The Herd tied the game up eight minutes later, but a pair of goals from junior Shelley Wong in the 29th and 83rd minutes gave the Owls a commanding victory. The defense, one game older, allowed four more shots than in the previous game, but a consistent team effort propelled the squad to a 1-1 C-USA record.

Consistency has been a recurring topic of conversation in practice over the past several weeks. Memphis and the University of Central Florida are always staunch competition for the Owls in C-USA, but the weekend results throughout the league paint a picture that means only one thing: The Owls must win.

The cluttered mess that has developed in the C-USA as the teams jumped off the starting block adds pressure to an Owls squad that is already reeling to adjust after losing an entire backline and a top goal scorer to injury.

"With the injuries we've caught, the girls have to have a do or die attitude," Waibel said. "They have to play with a chip on their shoulder. The world is against them, and they need to come out firing on all cylinders, with almost reckless abandon."

Wong has been one of the players showing that sense of urgency?throughout the start of the season. Her two goals last weekend landed her co-offensive C-USA MVP, and her leadership on the field has been crucial for the squad trying make a run at a conference championship despite injury.

Sophomore Stephanie Crain, who fought back from an ACL injury last year, has permanently moved from?midfield to defense and joined junior? Alexa Coralli to form the heart of head coach Chris Huston's backline.

With a shored-up defense, the remainder of conference play will return to the theme of consistency and mental toughness.

"We have to rally behind everyone who's healthy," Petric said. "What is done is done. We have to move forward. We are a team that prides ourselves on working hard. We may be the underdog, but we have proved ourselves to not be overlooked."

This weekend ends the Owls' homestand with games against Southern Methodist University and University of Tulsa on Friday and Sunday, respectively. It will be the last weekend pair of the year.

"We have a very tough road trip coming up," Petric said. "It is awesome to be home and tough being on the road, so we want to make sure we take care of business while we're here.

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