Rice Rallies Past Mississippi State, 3-2

Sunday, August 27

Rice Track/Soccer Stadium

1:00 PM

Rice University

2-0-0

Mississippi State

0-2-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Mississippi State	1	1	2
Rice Owls	0	3	3

<b>Traci Fraser came off the bench and tied the game in the second half.</b>

8/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Aug. 27, 2006

Box Score

HOUSTON -- The Rice soccer team rallied from a two goal deficit, and did so playing short-handed after an ejection, to post a dramatic 3-2 win over visiting Mississippi State Sunday afternoon at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium. With the team's second win in a row the Owls remained undefeated and moved to 2-0-0 for the first time in the young history of the program.

"The team did a great job, and I'm sure if I can even remember any other game like today," Rice head coach Chris Huston said. "Coming back from 1-0 is tough, from 2-0 is even tougher, and coming back two goals while you're a player short is just sensational.

"Our players showed they have a lot of character," Huston added. "They really played with their whole heart and soul, and the big thing is they played for each other. They worked hard all game and that's what we needed. Our bench stepped up big today and it's great to see that the level of play doesn't drop when we sub."

Mississippi State scored the only goal of the first half in the 37th minute. The Bulldogs were looking for more when Rice first had to replace its starting goalkeeper due to an injury on a collision during that goal, and then later when the Owls lost a player for the remainder of the game on a red card ejection in the 41st minute. MSU added another score early in the second half to take a 2-0 advantage, but the Owls weren't quite finished.

In the 54th minute sophomore Ashley Lucas broke a double-team and passed the ball to Samantha Conn in front of the right post. Conn settled the ball and fired a shot past the MSU keeper to the left side for her first goal of the season.

"I first hit it high and it deflected over to Ashley," Conn explained. "She got it, but they were all over her. She just kept running with it, passed back and gave me a great chance for a goal. It's crazy how she makes tough plays look so easy."

The Blue and Gray tied the game in the 63rd minute when freshman Shelly Wong eluded a Bulldog defender then found junior Traci Fraser on a dead-run directly in front of the goal. Fraser headed the pass to the back of the net to tie the game, 2-2.

Rice may have been playing with their back-up goalkeeper working in her first Division I game and a player short on the field, but the Owls continued to apply the offensive pressure and maintained an 8-2 shots advantage in the second half. In the 78th minute, junior forward Caitlin Robbins dribbled out of traffic on the left side before turning and blasting a shot from 22 yards out. The long attempt was on a sharp angle, but Owls' leading scorer from a year ago found the right-side netting for her first score of the year and Rice's first lead of the day at 3-2.

"We weren't going to walk off that field with a loss or even a tie," Robbins said. "The coaches want me to take more shots and it's not as if I don't want to take them. I thought I saw a seam, so I tried to place one in there. I was happy to score, but the win is the thing. When you come back from this that you can get though anything."

The Blue & Gray hung on for the final 12 minutes for a 3-2 victory, the team's second of the year after winning the season-opener at TCU two days before. It's the first time since starting the soccer program in 2001 that the Owls have won both of their first two games to start the season. Rice finished with a 14-5 advantage in shots despite playing the final 49 minutes with only 10 players.

Senior goalkeeper Kristina Hoban earned the win in net by playing more than 53 minutes in her first Division I soccer game. The multi-sport athlete was a star volleyball player for the Owls before joining the soccer team for her final competitive season this year. Hoban's volleyball skills came in handy as she made a high save on a MSU shot after a corner kick in the second half. The Bulldogs fell to 0-2-0 to start the year.

The undefeated Owls make an east coast road trip for two games next weekend before returning for a three-game homestand. Rice plays at the U.S. Military Academy on Sept. 1 and at Penn on Sept. 4.