Emotional weekend for soccer brings first win

By Yan Digilov     9/10/09 7:00pm

It's amazing how quickly emotions can turn. One second, you're riding high from a spectacular, come-from-behind victory against Stephen F. Austin University. Not two days later, you find your mouth agape, staring in bewilderment as Texas Christian University pulls the same mini-miracle on you. Such was the case of the soccer team last week.

A 3-2 victory over the Ladyjacks (2-4-0) on Friday was nullified by the 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Horned Frogs (4-1-0). The emotions were stark - one night's jubilance, the other night's disbelief.

Looking for their first win of the season, Rice (1-3-1) traveled to Nacogdoches, Texas, expecting nothing less than a victory. But those expectations were dampened by an opposing goal just 47 seconds into the game, and then again at the 32-minute mark.

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"Honestly, as a goalkeeper, that is the worst goal ever to be scored on in the first five minutes," junior goalie Meghan Erkel said. "We knew that it wasn't that they are better than us. It was that we were stuck on our heels."

The Owls were also stuck on the Ladyjacks' five-man midfield that created confusion across the field. But after the dust settled, the sizable deficit slowly began to wear down.

The first goal came off a corner kick from sophomore Annie Kadota, who found senior defender Alexa Coralli in the 39th minute. With the momentum on their side and the confusion at midfield behind them, senior striker Erin Scott made an impressive run between several Ladyjack defenders and dished a ball out to junior Korey Taylor in the 70th minute, forcing the game into overtime.

The final piece of the comeback arrived in dramatic fashion with freshman midfielder Julia Barrow scoring her first-ever goal in the 100th minute.

"Finally, a light bulb went off against SFA," Head Coach Chris Huston said. "They did a great job coming back from 2-0 down. It is not easy doing that against anyone, but they did it."

The counterattack displayed an impressive drive from the team and came as an especially impressive feat since the Owls, once again, were outshot by a wide margin. They gave up 21 shots and only dished out eight of their own. But at the end of the day, efficiency and heart won the game.

"It was awesome," Erkel said. "It showed what we are made of. We want to win so bad."

The momentum from the squad's first win carried over for the home game against TCU on Sunday. The Horned Frogs defeated Rice 2-1 in overtime last year and came in ranked fourth in the region.

An early goal from Taylor in the third minute gave Rice the cushion it had been looking for against its formidable foe. The home team was outscored 11-3 in the first half but maintained the lead.

At the start of the second half, the team's group defense was again strained. TCU staged a fierce attack, winning the majority of 50/50 balls and forcing Erkel to make save after save.

In fact, the keeper finished with a school-record 16 saves on the day. On average, Erkel makes an astounding nine saves a game, a statistic that both gives credit to the stalwart in the net and questions the defense's ability to protect her.

But the Owls seemed to be mentally prepared for a fight. Numerous runs down the sideline from Taylor, Scott and sophomore Hope Ward put the Owls back in the drivers' seat.

That is, until the statistical probability of the shot discrepancy caught up with them.

"We just couldn't hold them off," Huston said. "It was just unfortunate. We talked about that. We have to be ourselves and play the whole 90 minutes."

As TCU begin to look worn out, the Owls staged a fierce attack in the 79th minute with a loose ball in the middle of the box that Ward nearly got to for the assurance goal. But the great scoring chance quickly turned into a devastating counterattack when the ball got past the backline and found its way in the net thanks to a great run by TCU's Lizzy Karoly.

The goal sapped some energy out of Rice, but the squad showed no signs of defeat. Instead, the dagger came with an apparent miscall from the referee, who called a ball - seemingly kicked clean out of bounds - off of Erkel's hands.

"It was so frustrating," Erkel said. "It happens. He thought I tipped it and it hit the top crossbar."

The corner kick was converted in the 83rd minute, and the Owls went from elation to bewilderment.

"It was annoying, but what are you going to do?" Erkel said. "It was just heartbreaking, to be honest. That game was really upsetting, because we had it. But it is not the ref's fault. We had some bugs to work out with our team shape."

Those bugs have been the focus of Huston's practices this week. Working on team defense, she hopes, will lower the discouraging amount of shots they are allowing per game. TCU took 25, which is four higher than what they have been averaging.

But the issue moves past the cohesion of a backline that seems to be playing well with one another. Instead, all sides of the field are going to have to make a concerted effort to win the ball one-on-one and keep the ball out of the air, headed towards Erkel's eagerly-awaiting gloves.

"We knew something was wrong," the goalie said. "We just didn't really know what it was. Having the stats shown about how many shots we have given up is just ridiculous. I think we narrowed it down to a team shape instead of playing just defenders, forwards and midfield. We all need to come together and play together."

The squad has little time to dwell on the past, with 19th-ranked Oklahoma State University coming in tonight at 7 p.m. Fortunately, the weekend showed some signs of progress that will have to be capitalized on if they hope to contest a heralded Oklahoma State (4- 2-0) squad. With two games under her belt playing predominantly upfront, Taylor has notched two goals. Her help has given the offense the jolt it needed after a week of scorelessness.

Barrow's first goal was also a welcome, if not ultimately expected, sign. The freshman has proved herself worthy of the starting role in the midfield, and the added boost to her confidence should ultimately lead to more production.

But most importantly, the squad showed that they were mentally tough enough to weather any storm. To the final minute against TCU, the Owls were pressuring the goal and playing for the win. They are hoping that playing on their heels was left behind in Nacogdoches.

Now, they know what they have to do to play with the Cowboys. Similar to last year's epic game at then-No. 8 Texas A&M University, in which they played them to a draw for 88 minutes, today's game has huge consequences for rankings and a potential NCAA Tournament berth.

Oklahoma State particularly exposed Rice's poor shape last year in the 4-0 defeat, but Huston is hoping that a year's growth and the home turf will keep them mentally aware and physically prepared.

"I think this is exactly the kind of game that they get pumped for," she said. "It is a team coming in ranked in the top 20 in the nation. They know what they are up against. I think these girls are going to come out ready to play.

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