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August 27, 2004 > Sports > Rice Soccer 2004:

Rice Soccer 2004:

Ten seniors open final soccer season tonight at Houston

By Jonathan Yardley | Thresher Editorial Staff

With 11 returning starters, all 19 regular-season games winnable and a much-heralded recruiting class, all signs point to a Western Athletic Conference championship for the soccer team.

No pressure.

“They need to learn how to deal with that pressure, because that’s what a winning team has to deal with,” head coach Chris Huston said. “With the schedule we have for this season … the pressure is high because we’re expected to win most of the games we’re playing early on.”

Senior forward/midfielder Ashley Anderson said the pressure will help the team more than hurt it.

“If you’re going to consider it pressure at all, it’s definitely the more positive pressure,” Anderson said. “We all expect so much out of this — we’ve watched the program grow from day one.”

Rice opens its season tonight with a 7 p.m. match at the University of Houston, its first official match since a 2-1 last-minute loss to three-time defending champion Southern Methodist University in last year’s WAC title game. Huston recruited a strong class for the program’s fourth season, upgrading the team’s offense to go with a defense that set a WAC record a year ago by allowing just 17 goals in 20 games.

After a breakthrough season last year, the 10 players who remain from Huston’s first recruiting class intend to conclude their Rice careers with a conference championship.

“It’s just a really cool camaraderie among the senior class that’s passed on to the younger kids,” Anderson said. “They see the passion in our eyes, and I think we’re all on the same page. It’s definitely a positive pressure.”

Rice players and coaches expect both the conference title and NCAA tournament berth that eluded the Owls last year, but conference coaches elected to follow the more established pecking order, picking SMU and the University of Hawaii to finish ahead of Rice among the nine WAC soccer teams.

Despite its impressive late-season charge to the WAC championship game that included a stretch of nine wins in ten games, Rice finished just 11-8-1 last year due to a slow start. Sophomore midfielder Maria Fadool said the Owls are more prepared for their non-conference schedule, which includes a road game at Baylor University Tuesday, a road trip to play St. Louis Sept. 24, and a home match against North Texas Sept. 26.

“We had a slow start last year, and I think everyone’s just so focused this year on starting off — coming out and in our first couple of games just going at [the] other teams.” Fadool said. “This preseason was so much more focused, and the level of play [is] so much higher than last year.”

The Owls’ championship quest begins tonight at Robertson Stadium against crosstown rival UH. Rice beat the Cougars 1-0 last year for its first-ever win against UH — where Huston coached before coming to Rice — but the Cougars won a scrimmage last spring 1-0. Baylor beat UH 6-1 in a scrimmage Saturday, and Huston said tonight’s game is a chance to send a message to the Bears — Rice’s second opponent — whom the Owls have never beaten.

“It’s a psychological thing as well,” Huston said. “We need to prove to ourselves and to Baylor that we’re ready to play — that we’re in the same league they are and not just scraping by with our teeth to beat a team they beat 6-1.”

Anderson said the game will be important in setting the season’s tone.

“It’s probably one of the biggest games for our senior class, let alone the program in general,” Anderson said. “There’s an obvious rivalry between Rice and UH.”

Aside from UH, Rice’s biggest rivals are WAC foes SMU and Hawaii. The Mustangs come to the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium Oct. 15, while the Owls travel to Hawaii Oct. 1. In the process, the Owls hope to lower their WAC goals allowed record from last year.

“Especially with our schedule, we should be able to do that,” junior defender and co-captain Erin Droeger said. “We want to get at least seven shutouts, and we’ve set certain team goals: holding opponents to no more than 17 goals total.”

The Owls worked all summer to be prepared to achieve those goals, and coaches and players alike said the team has never been so fit.

“I think that the loss against SMU last year … if there’s a silver lining, it’s really motivated these girls to be in their best condition when they get here,” Huston said. “So [hopefully], we’re not going 0-5 and then start to get into it. I think that this year we have the capabilities to start going right off the bat and pull in some wins.”

End of article

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