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August 24, 2007 > Sports > Lauded youth movement hopes to put squad back on top

Lauded youth movement hopes to put squad back on top

By Casey Michel | Thresher Editorial Staff

Being a defending champion is never easy. With a target on your back, opponents work a little harder to knock you off your perch. Last season the soccer team found itself in this unforgiving position as defending Conference USA champions.

Rice started their 2006 campaign on pace for another successful run, winning a school-record nine straight games. But in the midst of this streak, a string of ACL tears of three top players in a span of just five days muted Rice’s momentum. The Owls persevered through the loss of six starters, but in the end were unable to clinch a spot in the C-USA tournament, going 3-7 in conference play.

“I think injuries were definitely not an excuse, because we got a lot of great players that weren’t injured,” head coach Chris Huston said. “But I do think injuries did play a role in the flip-flop of how well we were doing at the start to the disappointing end.”

Fortunately for Rice, the team is in a position to put last year behind them. Over half the players on this year’s team were not around for last season’s bitter finish. The Owls welcome nine new freshmen in 2007, making up one of the strongest recruiting classes Rice has ever produced — the recruiting Web site SoccerBuzz.com named Rice’s recruiting class the best in C-USA. Many of the new faces played for some of the nation’s top club teams, including the Dallas Sting and the Virginia Rockets.

But such an influx of new members can cause problems, from playing time to getting used to one another’s style of play. Senior midfielder Samantha Conn, one of two captains, said the freshmen will have plenty of chances to provide leadership this year. “We need to get them to be a little bit more verbal, because I think they don’t have the opportunity to be freshmen,” Conn said. “They will be thrown in so quickly — three of them will be starting. Even if not, they will be seeing a lot of playing time because we’ll have returning starters who won’t be able to play 90 minutes.”

One of the key positions a freshman will earn is goalkeeper. Freshmen Meghan Erkel and Catherine Fitzsimmons are both fighting for the starting spot, which was vacated by the departure of Amy McClintock (Will Rice ‘07). Erkel comes to the Rice after playing for the San Juan Spirits, and Fitzsimmons will be moving on from former national semifinalists the Michigan Hawks. While keeper is one of the most demanding and nerve-racking positions on the pitch, Huston said she believes the new teammates are up to the challenge.

“Our two goalkeepers have come in and been awesome, they’re going to do a great job for us,” Huston said. “It makes the level go up more in practice because they’re competing against each other — they don’t know who’s going to start yet. … I think the girls are going to come in and they’re going to prove to be every bit of the hype.”

Although they make up the bulk of the squad, freshmen should not have to carry the load in 2007. Six starters are returning, including all of the forwards. Senior forward Clory Martin, who is third on Rice’s career goals scored list with 15, highlights the trio on the frontline. Unlike last year, when opponents centered solely on shutting down Martin and held her to only six total goals, she will be able to share the ball with fellow forwards Erin Scott, a sophomore, and Caitlin Robbins, a redshirt junior. Scott will be looking to surpass her first-year totals — a daunting task, since she placed among the C-USA leaders in goals. And Robbins, a former All-Central Region honoree, will try to shake off any rust accrued from last year, which saw her sidelined with an injury only four games into the season.

Conn and fellow senior Traci Fraser will anchor the midfield during this upcoming season. Like Robbins, Conn will try to return to her successful ways after a debilitating knee injury 10 games into last season. Prior to her injury, the Owls were 8-0-1, but after Conn went down her teammates could only muster a 3-6-0 record. Sophomore Shelley Wong, the only freshman midfielder to play in every game last season, will join Conn and Fraser.

On the backline, the Owls will once again look to senior captain Beth Martin to lead them. Martin, a 2006 All-Region and All-Conference selection, used her speed and instinct to help limit Rice’s opponents to a mere 10.4 shots per game, second in the C-USA. The Austin native, who was also recently named to the C-USA All-Preseason team, said she is excited about the upcoming season and Rice’s potential.

“I’m super excited because I want to make the most of it, but I’m also by nature a really anxious person, so I have a lot inside that’s very, very built up,” Beth Martin said. “We need to prove what the beginning of last season was meant to accomplish. … This season we need to take care of each other and we need to take care of the mental and the physical part of the game and make sure that we don’t over-think things.”

Rounding out the defense will be sophomores Katelyn Ostendorf and Kellen Schugart, one of only two players who started all 18 games last year.

The season officially kicks off next Friday in Lake Charles, La. against McNeese State University. The non-conference schedule is highlighted by the Sept. 23rd match against Texas A&M, a contest Conn believes will weigh heavily on the tone of the season.

“The A&M game has — not the ability to make or break us — but to completely make us,” Conn said. “It would anyway, but coming from last year, beating [No. 8 University of] Texas and being ranked 30th in the country, to losing seven starters. … If we are even able to stay with A&M, that’ll show them that we’re back, that we’re ready to play. We have a lot of pride to pick up.”

Rice’s conference schedule begins Oct. 5th against crosstown-rival University of Houston. Their toughest test should come three weeks later on Oct. 26th when the Owls face off with Southern Methodist University, which C-USA coaches selected as preseason favorite.

As Rice looks toward this season, the team has one all-encompassing goal in mind: earn a spot in the C-USA tournament and so make last season’s finish a distant memory.

“Conference was in the bag, and then last year when it didn’t happen it was a reality check,” Martin said. “[This season] is something where the potential is there and everything we do from here to the end should be the same trajectory: up and up.”

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