Soccer saddled with first conference loss

By Ross Michie-Derrick     10/21/10 7:00pm

Though the last couple of weeks have neither damaged Head Coach Nicky Adams' confidence nor strained her of her usual enthusiasm, they have revealed some soft spots in the Owls' armor, which had appeared impenetrable in the opening games of conference play. The Owls met their first challenge, the first road conference game of the season, by handling the University of Southern Mississippi (3-11-2, 0-7-1 C-USA) 2-0 on the strength of goals by junior forward Annie Kadota and blue-chip freshman forward Jessica Howard, who was playing in her first game since returning from injury. The win moved the Owls to 5-0 in conference and, coupled with the University of Houston's loss later in the day, secured the Owls' position atop Conference USA.

The Owls did not have long to wait before facing their first challenge for the top seed, which came on Oct. 10 from the 19th-ranked University of Central Florida (10-3-3, 5-2-2 C-USA), who had handed the Houston Cougars their first conference loss of the season only two nights before.

UCF took the game's only lead early in the second half, but the Owls kept shooting until senior midfielder Elizabeth Nesbit scored the first goal of her career in the 76th minute to tie the game.

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The two teams battled for the final minutes of regulation and throughout one 10-minute overtime, but neither could strike the decisive blow.

The 1-1 tie proved to be enough to keep the Owls in first place, and, more importantly, demonstrated once again that the Owls could compete with the nation's elite.

"We played extremely well that game," Adams said. "To get a tie on the home turf of a top-25 team is unbelievable."

She went on to give credit for the team's success to senior goalie Catherine Fitzsimmons, who tied her career high with nine saves starting for injured senior goalie Meghan Erkel, who is out for the remainder of the season with a torn ACL.

"The thing about Cat is that we have been so lucky to have her on our team the past four years," Adams said. "There are programs all over the nation that would have salivated for her to be the starter for their programs."

Fitzsimmons continued her run of excellent goalkeeping the following Friday, when the Owls hosted Marshall University (4-8-3, 2-5-1 C-USA). Unfortunately, the offense did not take advantage of the defense's great play, leading to another tie, this time at zero after two overtimes.

The tie was reminiscent of games when Rice struggled before conference play, where the Owls would routinely out-shoot their opponents but had trouble converting on their attempts. Even if one examines the way the Owls were winning during their streak, there is evidence that their scoring problems never completely went away. Rice won several games by breaking through late in regulation or in overtime, which is a method of winning that is hard to sustain.

The Owls followed the tie-up with a disheartening loss to East Carolina University (8-7-1, 3-4-1 C-USA), 2-1 despite senior forward Kate Edwards' first goal since missing several weeks to injury. Sunday's loss dropped the Owls to 6-1-2 in conference play and a tie for second place behind the aforementioned Cougars. While ECU scored twice as a result of major errors in the backline, Adams is more concerned with the offense.

"Last week Marshall and ECU both came in in a situation where they needed results," she said. "They put numbers behind the ball, so it was really difficult to break down their defense."

Though the Owls have yet to figure out how to score consistently against box-heavy defenses, Adams remains confident that her team will respond.

"I don't want to look too much into [the loss to ECU] because it was the first game we lost in conference, so our kids have been playing phenomenal. We had a bad game. There's no doubt in my mind that we'll bounce back this weekend."

The team will find out beginning tonight, when the Owls play a tough University of Memphis (11-3-2, 5-1-2 C-USA) team that they cannot afford to lose to if they want to keep the conference championship within reach.

They hope to benefit from a week's worth of practice, which should help the team play more disciplined on offense and could afford Edwards and Howard the time they need to get healthy.

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