Soccer off to best start ever in conference play

By Ross Michie-Derrick     10/7/10 7:00pm

If Holloway Track/Ley Field were equipped with a scoreboard showing the scores of other Conference USA matches, the soccer team would have been glued to the glowing numbers of one specific game. As Friday's slate of C-USA matches dwindled down, the Owls and the University of Texas- El Paso (9-4, 2-2 C-USA) were tied at zero. Across town, the University of Houston (9-2-1, 4-0 C-USA) was also deadlocked at zero with conference opponent Colorado College (4-4-4, 0-3-1 C-USA). With Rice, UTEP and Houston all knotted at 2-0 in conference play, whichever squad could tally a clutch goal in the waning moments was going to pull ahead of the others in the conference standings. For the second straight game, it was the Owls who scored the late-night goal, when freshman defender Hayley Williams headed in a deflected corner kick in the 81st minute. With time ticking away, junior forward Annie Kadota trapped the ball inside Miner territory before wisely kicking the ball off of a UTEP defender, sending it rolling over the end line to create yet another corner kick for the Owls, their fifth of the night. After junior forward Hope Ward curved the ball over the goal box, freshman defender/midfielder Britton Cartwright headed it to Williams, who followed her teammate's lead by heading it into the back of the net. The Owls' stalwart defense held off a late barrage of shots from the vaunted Miners' offense but managed to keep a clean sheet.

The significance of the game-winning goal was not lost on Williams.

"It was awesome," she said. "To keep our winning streak alive at 3-0 (in conference play) was a great feeling."

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Williams' goal also marked the third-straight game in which a defender has scored for the Owls, something that had rarely happened in the season's opening weeks.

However, Interim Coach Nicky Adams said there has been no adjustment responsible for the backline's newfound fire power.

"Those girls should be scoring on set pieces," she said. "They have the size and power to do it and have been striking the ball well in practice."

Sunday provided another opportunity for the Owls to demonstrate their prowess for scoring goals late in the game. Colorado College took an early lead on a 20th-minute goal from forward Sydney Fetter and kept it into the second half. The Tigers took an 11-7 lead in shots into halftime but Rice continued to press throughout the second half, finally creating a golden opportunity in the 82nd minute with a goal from senior forward Korey Taylor. Ward set up the goal again by providing a pinpoint pass to Taylor, who then spun and took aim with her left foot, despite the fact that she was on the right side of the goal box. Nevertheless, the ball shot past the goalkeeper, tying the match for Rice.

As if Ward hadn't done enough for her team over the weekend, just a couple of minutes later, the Kingwood native captured the lead from Colorado College with a deceptively quick release from 18 yards out, courtesy of a pass from Williams, the hero in the game from the day before. Ward also captured the C-USA Offensive Player of the Week award, the first Owl to garner the honor since Erin Scott (Wiess '10) on Oct. 20, 2008.

The Owls held on behind senior goalkeeper Catherine Fitzsimmons, who shut out the Tigers after replacing injured starter senior Meghan Erkel in the 21st minute, moving the Owls to 7-5 on the season and 4-0 in conference play, their best start in team history. While Rice maintained a flawless conference record, the Cougars did the same, which could set up a showdown on Oct. 29 at Holloway Track/Ley Field that could potentially determine the regular-season conference champion.

Now Rice will have to take its momentum on the road to the University of Southern Mississippi (3-8-1, 0-4-0 C-USA) and 14th-ranked University of Central Florida (8-2-2, 3-0-1 C-USA). These two matches will be challenging enough considering the talented squads of Southern Miss and UCF. However, Rice will also have to compensate for the losses of stud freshman midfielder/forward Jessica Howard and all-conference-caliber goalie Erkel to injury, in addition to the longstanding absence of star midfielder Kate Edwards, who is still recovering from a shin injury sustained during a match against the University of Texas-San Antonio on Sept. 10.

Though Howard's void will be hard to fill, the Owls have been scraping together offense throughout their streak.

"Our whole team has decided that with or without [Howard and Edwards] we want to win," Ward said. "And you have to put it in the back of the net to do that."

The new challenge will be replacing Erkel, who has been having a typical great year, but Adams believes the team has the depth at goalie to survive.

"Our three backups are solid," she said. "We are one of the luckiest schools in the nation to have several top-tier goalies. With any of them in the back of the net between the pipes for us we have a chance to win.

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