Soccer learning on the fly

By Bhagwat Kumar     8/22/12 7:00pm

 

Last season was a solid year for the Rice Owls women's soccer team, one that was characterized by immediate success and potential. They finished sixth overall in Conference USA, ending the year with a 10-7-4 record overall, including a 4-5-2 mark within the conference.

Led by Head Coach Nicky Adams, who officially took over the team on Nov. 15, 2010, the team was able to win 10 games, their highes total in three years. The most striking trait of the team was its youth, as it had only four seniors on the roster. Additionally, five of the 11 regular starters were underclassmen

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The team played well at home, ending the year with a 6-2-0 record, but struggled on the road to the tune of a 3-5-3 record. Such a disparity between performance at home and on the road is not uncommon for young teams, and is something the group will surely look to improve upon entering this season.

The Owls' season ended in a penalty kick shootout for the second straight year, as they were eliminated in the Conference USA Championship by the University of Texas at El Paso. The score was tied at 0-0 after the 90 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtimes, but UTEP was able to advance thanks to a 3-1 advantage in the shootout. However, while the ending may not have been what the team originally envisioned, the year overall was still a successful one, as the group reached as high as 24th in the Ratings Percentage Index, especially impressive considering their relative youth.

The team will look to build upon the promise of last year, hoping that the younger players will be able to develop and learn

from last year in order to reach new levels of success this season. The team returns its top goal-scorer in junior Jessica Howard, who paced the team with eight, as well as sophomore goalkeeper Amy Czyz, who started all 21 of the team's games as a freshman. It will also bring back sophomore Ashton Geisendorff and senior Lauren LaGro, both of whom were named to the C-USA All- Tournament team.

With their unique combination of youth and experience, the Owls should be able to take another step toward realizing their potential this year, challenging for a better overall finish than last season, a process that began Friday, Aug. 17, against Baylor.

The Owls lost to the Bears 1-0 in their opener. The Owls fought hard against a difficult opponent, dueling the Bears to a draw in the second half. Czyz allowed the only goal of the game in the first half, but was otherwise brilliant, posting a career-high eight saves and only allowing a single goal despite facing a 24-8 disadvantage in shots taken.

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