Owls Host Home Matches Friday & Sunday
10/5/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Rice Soccer hosts UTSA: Oct. 6 (Fri.), 7 pm at Holloway Field.
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Soccer Alumnae Night -- We're excited to welcome back our former soccer players for this match. The program's participating alumnae will be recognized at halftime.
Rice Soccer Cup Give-Away -- Plan to arrive early because the first 250 fans in attendance can get a free Rice Soccer Solo Cup!
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Rice Soccer hosts UTEP: Oct. 8 (Sun), 1 pm at Holloway Field.
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Fan Give-Away For Rice Students -- Attention Rice students! You will be the coolest one at your Rice College if you are one of the first 250 student-fans in attendance to get our free Mini USB Fan! Just plug it in to your phone and stay cool during the game or anywhere on campus.
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(the online webcast & live stats features activate at game time.)
By: John Sullivan, Rice Athletics (jsully@rice.edu)
THIS WEEK: The Conference USA leading Rice soccer team is back home for its next three games, including a pair of a league matches on Friday (Oct. 6) and Sunday (Oct. 8). Rice, 7-2-1 overall and in sole possession of first place in the C-USA standings with a perfect 4-0-0 record, hosts a pair of state rivals in UTSA (2-9-0, 1-3-0) and UTEP (6-7-0, 2-2-0) respectively. The games mark Rice's second-to-last home weekend at Holloway Field this season.
RECEIVING NATIONAL VOTES: Rice is receiving votes for a chance to be ranked in the national Top 25 according to the latest United Soccer Coaches poll. The Owls' 41 votes is the 29th-most of any team in the country, just outside the nation's top 25 teams. View the full United Coaches Week 7 national poll here.
HIGH R.P.I.: If you have disdain for the politics of the various national and regional polls, and prefer the cold, hard, math of the NCAA's rating power index, then note that Rice's Oct. 2 RPI was listed as No. 35 in the nation. The Owls also ranked No. 6 in the NCAA in scoring offense with 2.6 goals per game. Rice is No. 17 in Shots-on-Goal with 8.5 s.o.g. per game. View the NCAA's latest RPI here.
QUICK ON THE OWLS: The 2017 Rice soccer team returns eight of 11 starters from last season's squad that went 11-5-1 and finished second in the C-USA regular season standings. The Owls return a total of 18 letterwinners from a year ago and welcome in a talented new recruiting class. The team's two losses this year were both on the road to Texas and Memphis, a pair of teams that were nationally-ranked when the Owls faced them.
COACH'S CORNER: Rice soccer is under the direction of head coach Nicky Adams, who is now in her seventh full year at the helm of the program. Adams owns a career record of 75-44-21. A former pro player and All-America honoree while playing at Texas A&M, Adams was inducted into her alma mater's Athletics Hall of Fame in the fall of 2015. Adams' coaching staff includes Courtney Sirmans in her third year with the program, and Brenton Saylor in his second year with the Owls.
C-USA HONORS HOYER AS `KEEPER OF THE WEEK: IRVING, Texas -- Rice sophomore Maya Hoyer has been named the Conference USA Soccer Goalkeeper of the Week, the league office announced from its headquarters in Irving, Texas, on Monday (Oct. 2)... Over the weekend Hoyer posted a pair of complete game shutouts in C-USA league games. She recorded four saves at Western Kentucky, followed by six saves in a narrow 1-0 win at Southern Miss to help the Owls stay in first place in the league standings. The Los Gatos, Calif., native played all 180 minutes of the two games and extended her streak of consecutive shutout minutes to 290:58 dating back to Sept. 15... For the full season Hoyer has made 39 saves, owns a 0.98 goals-against average and a .796 save-percentage. She has played every minute in goal for C-USA leading Owls this season.
PREVIOUS MATCH: (Oct. 15) HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Senior team captain Samantha Chaiken scored the lone goal of the game in the 76th minute to help lift the Rice soccer team to a 1-0 Conference USA road victory over Southern Miss Sunday afternoon in Hattiesburg, Miss... Rice improved to 7-2-1 on the season and remained a perfect 4-0-0 in C-USA action to hold onto sole possession of first place in the league standings with 12 points. The Owls were sharp in posting their fifth-straight win overall, but the team has in fact now won 11-straight regular season C-USA matches dating back to last year. Southern Miss is 6-5-1 overall and 0-3-1 in conference... The Owls were working to play forward and take shots, finishing the day with a 16-9 advantage in shots as well as a 6-1 margin in corner kicks. Rice finally broke through with the game's lone goal in the 76th minute... Southern Miss tried to clear the ball after a deflection. Chaiken played the rebound with comfortable space, settled, and unleashed a hard shot attempt from outside the 18. She found the back of the net in the upper left corner for her fifth goal of the season. She led all players on the day with five shots... The Golden Eagles would not go away so easy at home. Rice goalkeeper Maya Hoyer finished with six saves on the way to her third complete game shutout.
THE RICE-UTSA SERIES: Rice leads the all-time series with UTSA 6-1-0. The Owls are 3-0 vs. the Roadrunners when playing in Houston. Due to some odd quirks in the scheduling, Friday's match is only the second time for UTSA to visit Rice in the last six years.
THE RICE-UTEP SERIES: Rice and UTEP are longtime rivals dating back to when both schools were members of the Western Athletic Conference, including the Owls' very first year to start the soccer program in 2001. When the teams clash on Sunday, the Owls and Miners will meet for the 21st time overall. That will be the most games that Rice Soccer has faced any one opponent, and a full three more times than the next most-played opponent (SMU). In 20 career meetings vs. UTEP, Rice leads the all-time series 11-7-2. The Owls are 6-2-0 when hosting the Miners at Holloway Field. UTEP, however, claimed the most-recent meeting a year ago at the C-USA Tournament in Charlotte by a score of 1-0.
