Soccer earns second place with late game heroics

By Yan Digilov     10/9/08 7:00pm

A record setting weekend for both the players on the field and the coach on the sideline has left the soccer team hanging on to second place in the Conference USA standings. With a difficult road trip ahead of them and only three points separating five teams from second place, late game heroics against Southern Methodist University and the University of Tulsa could not have been more timely. The Owls had only beaten SMU one time prior to their meeting on Friday and never at home. An early goal from sophomore midfielder Kate Edwards on a penalty kick given for a foul in the box gave the squad a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute.

Unfortunately for them, a 1-0 lead was not something the Owls could hold onto this weekend. In the 59th minute, sophomore goalkeeper Meghan Erkel batted away a corner kick that landed in front of goal, but she could not keep SMU freshman Dylan Jordan from converting off the rebound in her first career goal.

As the game was tied up, an extra load was mounted on the squad's back.

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"We talked a lot about SMU the week before," junior Shelly Wong said. "We were really hoping we could get the win. Not only because it was SMU, but also so that our coach could have her hundredth win on a Friday night home game."

Unbeknownst to head coach Chris Huston, career win number 100 hung in the balance as the Owls mounted their counterattack.

SMU was limited to only five shots in the second half compared to 10 in the first, as the backline fell into its defensive groove. Finally, in the 75th minute, junior Erin Scott delivered the game winner after a pass out of the left corner from freshman Amy Beger. Simultaneously, two bits of history were made when the Owls defeated SMU for the first time at home home, and Huston reached the century mark.

"I didn't have any clue," Huston said. "At the end of the game, I was just trying to address the team, and they kept telling me, 'Turn around! Turn around!' Having the 100th win be against a team that we had never beaten before at home was a great win."

After beating one former Western Athletic Conference rival on Friday in a thrilling manner, another awaited and delivered an even more thrilling finish.

With her second assist of the week, Beger served the opening goal to junior Shelly Wong to open scoring on Sunday. Wong initially collided with a defender, but after falling to the ground, she had the presence of mind to send the ball into the net without getting up.

For the rest of the game, the Rice attack dominated Tulsa, but the Golden Hurricane were able to keep the lead at one despite being out-shot 10-5 in the first half and 17-6 in the second. Not having capitalized on their numerous opportunities, Rice gave up another lead in the second half when Tulsa's Jennifer Kacergis made a run from midfield, ran though the backline, and beat Erkel to the right side of the net.

The outstanding individual effort put the Owls on their toes as the game went into overtime.

"We did not make any changes," Huston said. "We didn't make any tactical changes. What we have to do, as a team, is to learn how to protect a lead. We get a lead and sit back to protect the lead, when actually that only puts us in more trouble."

The game marked the fifth time in the season that the squad gave up a 1-0 or 2-0 lead. This time, Huston's decision to leave everyone on the field and her confidence in the girls' determination paid off.

With less than a minute left in the overtime period, Wong scored her team-leading seventh goal after a pass from Scott.

"We pretty much dominated that game, and the score didn't really reflect that," Wong said. "When it got down to it in the second overtime, I was just thinking that there was no way we were going to lose. We did not deserve to lose."

Her second goal of the night landed Wong C-USA offensive player of the week. Erkel delivered the Owls a weekend sweep of the honor, receiving defensive player of the week honors for the second week in a row.

Though positive conference results put the Owls exactly where they want to be in the standings, a long week of practice awaited them to get prepare for the most grueling part of the season.

A major theme for this week's practice has been getting mentally prepared to defend a lead for an entire game. On Wednesday in practice, Huston split the squad in half and gave each side the opportunity to defend a 1-0 lead for 20 minutes.

Ironically, after both squads avoided finishing with ties, she turned them on each for a scrimmage in which one side gained an early lead only to give it up with two minutes left in the game.

"I do believe part of it is mentality, and it is just something that we have to find," Huston said.

She has also been focusing on one-on-one match-ups all week, which were responsible for both gaining and losing leads over the weekend. Huston has been posting the results of their weekly one versus one competition, a tiring drill that starts their practice on Tuesdays, in the locker room for her squad to see the importance of winning every ball.

"Even though soccer is a team sport, it is really a game of one versus one out on the field," she said. "When you are attacking you are trying to create numbers up, and the only way to do that is to beat a player. Right now, if you go into the locker room and look at who is number one, two, and three, there is a direct correlation to who our top three scorers are."

The team also continued to work on defense, as the hole left by injury expanded when junior Kellen Schugart went down. After having the rare opportunity to play the same defense for 90 minutes against Tulsa, the Owls lost Schugart to a sprained ankle.

The squad has maintained its performance despite an injured backfield all year, though, and they will have to come out with some of their best soccer to beat UAB and Memphis. The Owls have not beaten either team at home before, a task they will most likely have to accomplish to stay in the top layer of C-USA standings.

"We are really happy that we got ourselves in a good position," Wong said. "Everything that happens to us now is all in our hands. We don't have to worry about other people winning or losing.

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