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October 21, 2005 > Sports > Soccer records first-ever win over SMU, hosts Tulane tonight

Soccer records first-ever win over SMU, hosts Tulane tonight

By Stephen Whitfield | Thresher Editorial Staff

The soccer team will try to establish its position among the elite teams in Conference USA this weekend as it hosts its final two regular-season home games. Rice (7-5-1, 3-1-1 C-USA) will play Tulane University, a team that has struggled all year, tonight at 7 p.m. at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium. The Owls will then play perhaps their toughest home game of the season against the University of Texas-El Paso, which has the best record in the conference, Sunday at 1 p.m.

Tulane (1-8, 1-5) was not expected to do well even before the season began. Picked to finished ninth in the C-USA preseason coaches’ poll, the Green Wave added eight freshmen to a team that lost five of its last seven games in 2004. Due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina, Tulane cancelled almost half the games on its original schedule, going 26 days between games at one point earlier in the season. The Green Wave relocated to Texas A&M University after New Orleans was evacuated.

Despite its record, Tulane has been competitive in most of its games. Five of the Green Wave’s eight losses were by two or fewer goals. On Sunday, Tulane lost to preseason-favorite Southern Methodist University 2-0.

Head coach Chris Huston said the Owls will not take the Green Wave lightly.

“We haven’t even [qualified for] the conference tournament yet, so every game for us is as important as the next,” Huston said. “Tulane [has] one win so far, but they’re a decent team … and just like some games haven’t bounced our way, I could only imagine that some of [Tulane’s losses] were just because the ball didn’t bounce their way.”

UTEP (15-1-1, 4-1-1) figures to be Rice’s toughest opponent this year. The Miners have breezed through their season so far, although their schedule has been relatively weak, including such non-conference opponents as Sam Houston State, Sacramento State, Louisiana-Monroe, Utah Valley State and West Texas A&M. Four of the Miners’ first six conference games have been at home, and only one of its four conference wins — a 3-0 victory over the University of Tulsa Oct. 16 — has come by more than two goals.

Sophomore defender Beth Martin said Rice will need to be confident against the Miners.

“When you play tough teams like that, if you come out cocky, it really helps a lot,” Martin said. “If we can come at UTEP with the … idea that we are as good as we think we are, then … we’re going to get a win.”

Rice is in good position to secure a high seed for the C-USA tournament, which will be held Nov. 2-6 at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium. Rice currently trails UTEP, Memphis, SMU and UCF in the conference standings, and with games coming up against two of those four teams as well as against two of the worst teams in the conference — Tulane and Southern Mississippi — the Owls have a chance to earn the top seed in the tournament.

“We’re in a unique situation going into our last four games,” Huston said. “If we take care of business [against Tulane and Southern Miss] and then go out against the teams that are ranked ahead of us, we can really put ourselves in a better situation for seeding going into the conference tournament.”

Two weeks ago, Rice embarked on its third road trip of the year, losing to Tulsa 1-0 Oct. 7 and beating SMU 2-1 in double-overtime Oct. 9. The game against the Golden Hurricane (7-7-2, 2-3-0) was particularly disheartening because the Owls had seemingly tied the game on a header from senior defender Erin Droeger with four seconds remaining. However, Rice was called for a foul, nullifying the goal and sealing the win for Tulsa.

The Owls rebounded from the loss with a strong effort against SMU (10-4-1, 4-1). Rice fell behind early in the second half when the Mustangs scored on a corner kick but came back to tie the game in the 65th minute, when sophomore Clory Martin scored her second goal of the season. Neither team mounted an offensive charge in the first overtime period, but in the second overtime sophomore midfielder Samantha Conn broke the tie with her fifth goal of the season, scoring on an assist from Martin in the 109th minute.

The win was Rice’s first victory in seven games against SMU, including the last two Western Athletic Conference Championship matches.

Huston said she was pleased to beat the Mustangs for the first time but that she was disappointed with the split after playing Tulsa close.

“Beating SMU is a huge win [but] it’s just unfortunate that we did not come out ready to play both games,” Huston said. “Coming out to play just one game per weekend isn’t going to cut it. We could … kick ourselves for some of the mistakes we’ve made or the letups we’ve had.”

Rice followed up its win with a 1-1 tie at home against the University of Houston in front of the third-largest crowd to attend a non-season opener in Rice soccer history. The Cougars (7-4-2, 2-2-1) struck early with a goal by forward Sarah Fisher in the fourth minute, and Rice tied the game in the 30th minute when redshirt freshman forward Caitlin Robbins scored her team-leading sixth goal of the year. Despite controlling the game and having numerous opportunities to score during the second half and the two overtimes, the Owls could not muster another goal.

“It’s frustrating for the girls,” Huston said. “Houston did a good job defensively — they were constantly putting us under a lot of pressure. There were far more opportunities [for us] than shows on the stats. … There are times when we can create more opportunities for ourselves than we actually do, and then it’s really important to … have them converted into results.”

Although the Owls moved up in the C-USA standings with the tie, Beth Martin said she is not proud of the result.

“The game against Houston … was a really unsuccessful game,” Martin said. “We have the potential to be a lot better team.”

End of article

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