Owls Host Tulane and UTEP In Weekend C-USA Action
10/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 20, 2005
activates at 7 pm Oct. 21
activates at 1 pm Oct. 23
THIS WEEK: The Rice soccer team, 7-5-1 on the season and just two points off the Conference USA lead with a 3-1-1 league record, plays its final two regular season home games this weekend. The Owls host C-USA foe Tulane (1-8-0, 1-5-0) Friday night (Oct. 21) at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium. Start time is slated for 7 pm. On Sunday Rice has an excellent opportunity to make a move in the conference standings when the Owls host C-USA front-runner and former WAC rival Texas-El Paso (15-1-1, 4-1-1) at 1 pm. The Miners play across town at Houston on Friday night before facing the Owls.
FOLLOW THE MATCH LIVE ON THE WEB: The statistics for both home matches will be posted live on the web during the respective games. Use the Gametracker links listed above at the appointed start times on Friday and Sunday. Note that the Gametracker stats update on data entry, not on the running of the game clock.
ABOUT THE OWLS: Rice recorded a tie last week to pick up a point and keep pace in the C-USA standings. The Owls have a total of seven points for three conference wins and a tie and trail UTEP (nine points) on the leaderboard. The Blue and Gray averages a steady 18 shots per contest and has scored 31 goals in 13 games. Rice is third in C-USA with 2.2 assists per game and fourth in corner kicks (5.6 p/g).
Rice owns wins over two teams, SMU and Auburn, that were regionally ranked when the Owls faced them. Rice has five losses but a closer look at the those games, however, is in order. Four of the losses were on the road and two were by narrow 1-0 margins. Two of the losses were to Nebraska and Texas, both ranked among the nation's Top 25 at the time. Another loss is to Saint Louis, a team that is now regionally ranked with an 11-3 record. (Check out the latest regional rankings by National Soccer Coaches Association of America and the Soccer Buzz.)
With 13 letterwinners returning to the roster, including five starters from last season's squad that won a school record 14 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, Rice received some preseason attention around the region and in Conference USA. Rice was picked to finish fourth in Conference USA on a preseason vote of the league's 12 head coaches despite never having played a game in the league. The results of that C-USA coaches' poll are on page two of the pdf version of release listed above.
HEAD COACH Chris Huston: Now in her fifth season at the helm of the Rice soccer program she started from scratch, Chris Huston has guided the Owls to an established spot alongside the more experienced teams in the state of Texas and the NCAA. The 2004 season was her best yet, with the program earning an NCAA bid and a regional ranking as well as setting new school records for wins (14), goals (36), points (100) and shutouts (14). For the sensational season, Huston was named the 2004 Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year on a vote of the leagues' head coaches. It is her second time to earn the honor after winning the award in 2001. Huston's won-loss record at Rice is 43-40-7. Her career college coaching record is 65-56-9.
The 2005 season may be Rice's first year in C-USA, but it's not the first for Huston. The former North Carolina Tar Heel served as the head coach at the University of Houston for two years after starting that program in 1998. Huston owns a career C-USA regular season record of 19-6-2.
PREVIOUSLY: Rice doubled the number of shots it allowed crosstown and C-USA rival Houston to take (17-8), but the Owls and Cougars battled to a 1-1 double-overtime tie before a vocal crowd of 1,087 at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium on Oct. 14. Houston jumped on the scoreboard with a goal in the fourth minute of the contest. Rice came back and tied the game in the 30th minute when junior midfielder Vanessa Serrano found Caitlin Robbins 18 yards out on the left wing. Robbins settled the ball and blasted a shot that beat the UH keeper low to the right side. It was Robbins' team-leading sixth goal of the season. The Owls went on to outshoot Houston 9-3 in the first half and 7-2 in the second, but the Blue and Gray could not convert the chances to scores. The game was tied 1-1 after regulation and two ten-minute over time periods could not break the deadlock. It was the second consecutive game for both teams to reach double-overtime but unlike the respective wins Rice and UH posted on the road a week ago, the teams registered a draw for the first time in the series history.
HOME SWEET HOME: The current homestand is good news for the Owls. In 43 games played on campus at the Track/Soccer Stadium, Rice owns an all-time record of 26-13-4 (.651). Rice began the 2005 campaign with a 4-1 record in five consecutive home games, the longest homestand in Rice soccer history.
CROWDING THE HOUSE: With a good home record, it makes sense that good home attendance follows suit. Rice is averaging 586 fans for five home games in 2005. That is the largest home attendance average for any soccer team in Conference USA. The 1,276 fans who attended the 2005 season-opener accounted for the fourth-largest crowd in Rice soccer history. The 1,087 at last week's Houston match is the fifth-largest all-time. The singe-game attendance record is 1,752 for the program's NCAA debut vs. Army in 2001. Rice has also drawn crowds of 1,487 for Texas State and 1,360 for Houston, both in 2001. The highest average attendance for a full season is 815 per game in 2001. Rice's best attendance games are listed below.
Top Rice Home Attendance MarksOpponent Attendance YearArmy 1,752 2001Texas State 1,487 2001Houston 1,360 2001Auburn 1,276 2005Houston 1,087 2005
STREAKING STARTERS: Senior defender Erin Droeger, an all-region and all-conference honoree last season, has started every Rice game in which she has played dating back to her freshman year in 2002. Droeger's career starts now stands at 72 games for the third-highest total in school history. The native from Huntington Beach, Calif., had started 61 consecutive games at one point, but there was no need for the Owls' star to start or play in the 12-0 runaway victory over Texas Southern (Sept. 1). Junior midfielder Vanessa Serrano has a streak of starting all 54 games in which she has played, the sixth-highest starts total in Rice history. Sophomore defender Beth Martin owns a streak of 33 consecutive Division I starts that includes her freshman season at Northwestern a year ago. Sophomore Laura Barber's streak of consecutive starts ended at 32-in-a-row on Oct. 9. Sophomore Clory Martin's streak of consecutive starts ended at 25-in-a-row on Sept. 4.
HAIL SENIORS!: The three members of the Owls' senior class will be honored on the field prior to the start of the UTEP game, the last regular season home game of their collegiate careers. Through the leadership and hard work of seniors Erin Droeger, Kelly Brolan and Amanda Garrison, the Rice soccer program has grown into one of best and most-respected in the region. The veteran trio helped lead the Owls to the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
POINTS OF INTEREST: With another goal last week freshman forward Caitlin Robbins climbed into a tie for third on the school's list for points in a single season with 17. Robbins tallied her team-leading sixth goal of the season against Houston and is now fourth on Rice's single season goals list. She also co-leads the team with five assists, the third-highest season mark in Rice history.
QUICK ON THE COMPETITION: Tulane is 1-8 after enduring some hurdles few other schools in the country have ever had to face. The Green Wave has been playing games and going to school away from their home in New Orleans due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Tulane soccer has not played a game in Louisiana since Aug. 26.
The Miners of UTEP are on fire. UTEP is 15-1-1 on the season, 4-1-1 in C-USA, and leading the league with nine points. The Miners are second in the conference for shots (20.5) and goals (2.9) per game.
SERIES NOTES: Rice has never faced Tulane, Friday's clash is the first meeting. The Owls are 4-2-0 in six career games with UTEP. The Blue and Gray has won each of the last three meetings with UTEP dating back to 2003. Rice is 2-1 against UTEP when playing in the city of Houston.
RICE TO HOST C-USA TOURNAMENT: Rice has the honor of hosting the 2005 Conference USA Tournament in November. The league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament will be on the line at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium Nov. 2-6. Sunday's championship final will be televised live by College Sports Television.
UP CLOSE WITH THE OWLS: This year fans will have two ways to get some extra insight to the Rice soccer team via the Internet. Senior Erin Droeger, a member of the 2004 NSCAA all-central region team, will keep a weekly web journal about life as a Rice student-athlete. The players will also be featured one-by-one in the new "Just For Kicks" segment. Fans can check out these features at the following links.
THREE RANKED FOES: The Sept. 18 contest against Texas was the Owls' third game against a ranked opponent this season. That's the most ranked foes Rice soccer has faced in one season since the program began in 2001. The 2002 team played two ranked teams. The 2005 Owls are 1-2 against ranked teams with a 2-1 win over Auburn and a 3-1 loss at Nebraska.
NEXT WEEK: The Owls are back on the road to close out the C-USA regular season on Oct. 28 and Oct. 30. Rice faces fellow C-USA newcomer Central Florida at 6 pm (central time) in the Friday clash. The Owls then head to Hattiesburg, Miss., to battle Southern Miss on Sunday. Start time with the Golden Eagles is slated for noon.
