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October 22, 2004 > Sports > Soccer squeezes past UTEP

Soccer squeezes past UTEP

By Jonathan Yardley | Thresher Editorial Staff

In the midst of its most successful season ever, the soccer team has had as many players wear medical boots or casts to protect injuries — seven — as goals conceded. Senior midfielder/forward Ashley Anderson was the season’s latest casualty, breaking her foot in Friday’s 3-2 loss to three-time defending Western Athletic Conference champion Southern Methodist University. Anderson joins sophomore defender Laura Barber and freshman forward Caitlin Robbins as starters sidelined for the season. ‘Since our first year, there’s always been [injuries to] ACLs or hips or shins or knees,’ senior defender Caitlin Currie said. ‘I feel like we have the depth this year a lot more than we had in past years. Obviously losing a Barber or an Anderson is really hard because they’re so valuable, but I feel like we have enough talented players that can step up and that know what we need to get done to make it to the WAC tournament, that we’ll be fine.’ Rice (10-3-2, 2-2 WAC) faces the University of Nevada (2-11-1, 0-4) tonight and Boise State University (9-5-1, 2-1-1) Sunday before returning home for its final two home games Oct. 29 and Oct. 31. Currently in fourth place, the Owls are in position to qualify for the six-team WAC tournament Nov. 4-6 in Hawaii. Rice is the favorite in both matches, but head coach Chris Huston said the Owls need to guard against overconfidence. ‘We need to be really careful about having those preconceived notions going in about playing a team that’s lesser than us,’ Huston said. ‘Boise [State] is not. None of our games that we have left are a gimmee by any shot.’ Boise State lost its toughest test to date 1-0 at the University of Hawaii, the same score by which Rice lost to the Rainbow Wahine, but last year the Broncos beat the University of Texas-El Paso and SMU and took Rice to overtime. ‘Our conference, the WAC, is just amazing because I don’t think you can tell anything from looking at game results,’ Huston said. ‘[Rice], Hawaii and SMU are in another category, that I think that everybody below us — every time they come out and step on the field to play us, they’re bringing their best game.’ The Owls did not play their best in Sunday’s match against UTEP at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium but did emerge with a 1-0 victory. ‘We played well [Friday], so we came out confident [Sunday] because we did play so well,’ sophomore midfielder Vanessa Serrano said. ‘Considering we didn’t really play that well, we can only go up from here. We’ll have a hard week of practice … and then try to be second going into the WAC tournament.’ After switching to a 4-3-3 formation against SMU in attempt to generate more offense with three forwards, Huston continued the annual experiment in the first half against UTEP. In only the fifth minute of Sunday’s game, junior defender Erin Droeger again acted as Rice’s offensive catalyst, moving forward on the right wing to serve a cross into the penalty area. Freshman forward Clory Martin collided with a UTEP defender and goalkeeper Brittany Popoff on the cross but needed to pick herself up to slam in the rebound after her initial header hit the post. Rice would get just one more shot in the half, a late blast by senior midfielder Angela Aaker from 35 yards, as UTEP had a 10-3 shot advantage and 4-0 advantage in corner kicks in the first period. ‘Sunday [was a] nightmare,’ Huston said. ‘Sunday might have been the worst game we’ve played all year. … As late as it is in the season, it’s too late to do something like that and risk our chances in the conference tournament.’ In the face of almost constant offensive pressure from UTEP in the first half, Currie was a pillar in the center of the back line, stepping up with precise timing to clear the ball and covering for her teammates. ‘It was a conscious effort,’ Currie said. ‘I feel like I could be someone a lot of people look up to, as far as how I play. Since [the] Hawaii [match Oct. 1], I’ve been playing a lot better than I did in the beginning of the season. … [Rice soccer has been] four years of my life, and I’m not going to waste the last six games playing like crap.’ For the last five minutes of the first half, only four Rice starters remained in the game at their original position, and the Owls struggled to preserve their 1-0 lead. Huston switched to the more standard 4-4-2 formation in the second half, and the change resulted in a midfield deadlock, as the teams combined for just four shots in the first half hour. Huston took advantage of the deeper bench provided by home-field advantage, using eight substitutes as opposed to UTEP’s four. ‘We have a lot of good players off the bench, so I think we’re coping well with [injuries],’ Serrano said. ‘We have a lot of depth this year. … We just have such a solid back line.’ Despite its depth, Rice and its back line had to withstand heavy UTEP pressure in the final minutes, including an 85th-minute blast from striker Christine McCartney that sailed just over the goal. With senior goalkeeper Lauren Shockley’s punch of the final Miner corner kick, however, the Owls completed their sixth 1-0 win and 10th shutout of the season. The victory was also Rice’s third 1-0 win in its last four games, after freshman midfielder Samantha Conn’s 13th-minute goal beat TCU Oct. 10 and senior forward Sarah Yoder struck in the 11th minute against WAC foe Tulsa Oct. 8. ‘A lot of people chalk Sunday’s performance up to fatigue, and it was hot, and people were tired,’ Currie said. ‘But I do think it’s [complacency]. … A lot of people come out one day and play well, but you have to work for each game. We don’t play as well against the lesser teams, and that’s something we definitely need to fix.’ Senior midfielder Jackie Rellas said the Owls must maintain their focus for all games. ‘One thing [assistant coach] Nicky [Thrasher] said that struck me was that we’re not going to get any respect as a team until we get consistency,’ Rellas said. Rice showed its potential Friday, rallying from a 3-0 deficit and out-shooting rival and 20th-ranked SMU before falling 3-2. The Owls hoped to avenge a last-minute 2-1 defeat in last year’s WAC title game but trailed 2-0 at halftime despite a 7-6 shot advantage. In the 37th minute, SMU forward Amanda Jordan, a three-time all-WAC selection, penetrated the Rice defense that entered the game as the nation’s best, slicing a cross from the end line on the ground to defender Kimber Bailey, who finished easily from point-blank range. Just three minutes later, 2003 WAC Freshman of the Year Olivia O’Rear evoked memories of her game-winning assist in last year’s WAC championship match, as she dribbled down the left wing for at least 40 yards. Unlike last year, however, the sophomore finished the run herself, beating Shockley from 10 yards to give SMU a 2-0 halftime advantage. In the 72nd minute, Currie was whistled for a phantom foul, and Bailey converted the spot kick for the highest goal total against Rice since the 2002 WAC tournament. Outraged at the call, the Owls awoke from their stagnant second-half play and increased pressure on the Mustangs. An SMU handball gave Rice its own penalty kick, which Droeger converted, and WAC offensive Player of the Week Martin emerged from a six-yard-box scramble to finish an Owl corner kick with about six minutes left in the game. Rice played most of the remainder of the game in SMU’s half of the field, and the Owls’ best opportunity came on a corner kick with less than a minute remaining. No Rice player could connect, though, as the ball bounced through the penalty area and eventually was cleared. ‘I think Friday night [we] played well,’ Huston said. ‘That was probably the best that we’ve played all year. We did some good things. Obviously we would’ve rather had a win. … [We were] disappointed in the result but not really in the level of play.’

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