Women draw with Baylor after thunderstorm delay

By Yan Digilov     8/27/09 7:00pm

As the rain poured down and the lightning illuminated the darkened sky last Friday, the women's soccer team sat, unsure as to whether or not they would be taking the field that night against Baylor University. Two hours later, the teams finally headed onto the pitch, and after a pair of goals and overtime periods, the contest ended in a 1-1 tie. According to senior Erin Scott, the waiting game was almost as difficult as the actual competition.

"We were all really restless, waiting for the game to start," Scott said. "It was difficult because we were trying to stay pumped up."

The restlessness transferred into a rocky start for Rice once the game, originally slated for 7:30 p.m., finally began at 9:30 p.m. Baylor put up their first tally in the 18th minute after junior goalkeeper Megan Erkel collided with a Bear to make a save but was unable to deflect the rebounded shot from inside the 18-yard mark.

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The Owls failed to compose themselves throughout the first half, and Head Coach Chris Huston felt that they were fortunate to go into halftime down by only one.

"It was a bit of just kickball back and forth, and that was exactly what we did not want to happen," Huston said. "When you look at player for player, I think Baylor probably has better athletes than we do, but we have better soccer players. Having a game that just goes 90 m.p.h. doesn't really play to our strengths."

In the chaotic play of the first half, Baylor outshot Rice 7-4 and kept the newly refurbished backline on its heels.

Fortunately for the Owls, either Huston's halftime pep talk or the reluctance to start the season with a home loss kicked in as soon as second-half whistle blew. The squad began to play a game of possession and equalized early in the 49th minute.

The lone home goal came off a corner kick. Senior Ashley Lucas got a pass out wide and swung a cross in to Scott, who was waiting to place a perfect header in the back of the net.

"We figured out everything that we needed to fix and went out to fix it," Scott said. "I had a lot of opportunities, and I was just waiting to see which one would go in."

After doubling the number of shot attempts from four to eight in the second half, Rice seemed poised to put a go-ahead goal in the back of the net on several occasions, but the finish never came. After two overtime periods, the score remained even at one.

"Obviously we wished we could pull a win out of that, but Baylor is a good team," Scott said. "We are proud to still be undefeated."

The squad showed many signs that fostered optimism among the coaching staff, including the play from some of the new faces.

Among the four players that debuted in the game, freshman midfielder Julia Barrow made the biggest impact. With her composed play, she seems to have gained the trust of the starters, most of which are upperclassmen.

"It looks like Julia found a starting position on the team, which she deserves," Scott said. "She definitely helps out in the air, and I think she did a good job."

Scott also found a companion in freshman striker Alex Burton. Aside from bringing much-needed height at 5'10", she has showed great control upfront along with a dangerous boot.

But the biggest question for the team is not among the new additions; rather, it is from the old hands on the backline.

"The backline got better as the game went on," Huston said. "We have a group that [doesn't] have experience playing together as a unit."

The unit did rely upon one newcomer, Megan Aultman, who entered the game in overtime to replace injured junior Korey Taylor.

"It was an incredibly difficult situation," Huston said. "We don't sub much in the backline as it is, but to go in during an overtime period in a 1-1 game as a freshman had to be incredibly stressful. She went in and did a phenomenal job."

Ultimately, it was the visibly improved play of the squad towards the end of the game that left the Owls satisfied with the draw. However, the result was improved when the weekend's final scores came in. Texas Christian University had also battled to a draw with the Bears in an exhibition match earlier in the year, and the Frogs pulled a 2-1 upset over the University of Texas on Friday.

That result only improves the likelihood that the Owls could win an at-large birth for the NCAA Tournament at the end of the year, which Huston said is the ultimate mark of a successful season.

"We have to go out and win games on our own," Huston said. "We already knew that we had a good schedule going into this year, which will allow us many opportunities to qualify for the NCAA tournament without having to rely on the conference championship game alone."

And that schedule just got a little stronger after the weekend's results. Oklahoma State University came out of the weekend ranked 13th in the nation, and conference rival University of Central Florida also finds itself in the top 25. The University of Memphis upset Louisiana State University 2-0, while the University of Alabama at Birmingham upset both the University of Mississippi and the University of Alabama.

What do all of these teams have in common? The Owls will be facing Oklahoma State, TCU, UAB, UCF and Memphis at home later in the season.

But before they take on those pivotal matchups, they will face a tough road trip to Milwaukee, Wisc., to play Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee today and Sunday, respectively.

Those match-ups will give the Owls a good idea of where they stand in the national rankings early in the season. If they can manage to come back home without a loss, the forecast predicts an increased chance of a regional ranking.

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