Rice University Athletics
Rice University
Marshall
Soccer Plays At Marshall Friday, WKU Sunday
10/10/2018 6:00:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Owls Look To Build Momentum After Sunday Victory
LIVE STATS: https://herdzone.com/sidearmstats/wsoc/summary
WATCH ONLINE: http://conferenceusa.com/watch/default.aspx?Live=4859&path=marshall
Rice at Western Kentucky (Sunday, Oct. 14 at 1 pm)
LIVE STATS: http://wkusports.com/sidearmstats/wsoc/summary
WATCH ONLINE: http://conferenceusa.com/watch/default.aspx?Live=5028
(Internet features activate at game time, and may contain data from a previous event until the actual start.)
THIS WEEK: The Rice soccer team is back on the road this weekend for a pair of Conference USA league matches. The Owls play at Marshall (5-6-2) on Friday (Oct. 12). Start time in Huntington, W.Va., is set for 6 pm. (Central Time). The Blue & Gray then travel to conference foe Western Kentucky (4-7-2) on Sunday (Oct. 14). The match vs. the Hilltoppers is scheduled for at 1 pm Bowling Green, Ky. Watch the matches online and get live stats at the above links.
QUICK ON THE 2018 OWLS (4-7-0, 2-3-0 C-USA): The 2018 Rice soccer team returns eight of 11 starters from last season's squad that went 12-4-2 and won the Conference USA regular season championship with a 9-0-1 league record. The Owls return a total of 19 letterwinners from a year ago and welcome in a talented new recruiting class.
COACH'S CORNER: Rice soccer is under the direction of head coach Nicky Adams, who is now in her eighth full year at the helm of the program. Adams enters the weekend with a career record of 84-53-22. 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. She previews the upcoming match in the above video. Adams' coaching staff includes Brenton Saylor in his third year with the program, Kelly Madsen her first year, and volunteer coach Javier Jerez in his first season.
TOP G.P.A. IN DIVISION-I SOCCER: KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Rice soccer team posted the highest team grade-point average among all Division I programs (as well as the second-highest GPA for all divisions) on the way to receiving the United Soccer Coaches' Team Academic Award, the organization announced on Oct. 4… United Soccer Coaches, the national coaches association for college programs, recognizes exemplary performance in the classroom with its annual Team Academic Award. The organization honored 773 women's and men's teams from all divisions college soccer for maintaining a composite grade-point average of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale for all players on the roster during the 2017-18 academic year… Rice registered the highest GPA among Division I women's and men's programs with an eye-opening 3.77 for a total of 27 student-athletes on the roster. The women's program from Division II Bellarmine University led the nation with a composite 3.79 GPA... "I am of course very proud of the players in our program," coach Adams said. "Our student-athletes work equally hard on the soccer field and in the classroom. The players know coming-in that the Rice curriculum is one of the most challenging in the country, and for them to do so well both academically and athletically is really very special. Congratulations to all the Team Academic Award recipients, and their respective student-athletes."
THE RICE-MARSHALL SERIES: The soccer series between the Owls and Thundering Herd is deadlocked at 4-4-1, but it's been a while since the last meeting. Rice and Marshall have faced each other only one other time since 2013, when the Herd registered a 2015 win over the Owls in West Virginia by a score of 1-0. In 2013, the Herd tallied a 3-1 win over Rice in the opening round of the C-USA Tournament played at Holloway Field. The Owls have not won on the road at Marshall since 2007.
THE RICE-WKU SERIES: Rice leads the all-time series with Western Kentucky 4-1-1. Due to a quirk in the C-USA schedule, Sunday's match is the fourth time for the teams to play in Kentucky since 2013. A year ago WKU was Rice's first C-USA road match, and the Owls recorded a 2-0 victory to remain unbeaten in league play. The very first meeting between the teams was in 2011, a thrilling 3-2 Owl victory at home in double-overtime.
DID YOU KNOW?: In 2001 both Rice and Western Kentucky launched their new Division I women's soccer programs for the first time.
PREVIOUS OUTING: HOUSTON — Junior Erin Mikeska scored a pair of goals, while junior Lianne Mananquil had a goal and an assist, to lead the Rice soccer team to a 3-0 Conference USA shutout victory over visiting Louisiana Tech on Oct. 7 (Sunday) at Holloway Field... The Owls' junior tandem quickly put Rice on the scoreboard in the 16th minute of the contest. Mananquil served a sharp corner to the six from the left side, where Mikeska headed the ball to the back of the LA Tech net for a 1-0 lead... The goal proved to be all the scoring Rice would need, controlling both the tempo and a strong majority of the possession for 90 minutes in afternoon's hot-house-like conditions. The Owls limited the Bulldogs to just six shots for the entire contest. The Blue & Gray meanwhile continued to apply the offensive pressure and added another score in the 26th minute. Senior Marissa Topolski lined a hard grounder to Mananquil, who proceeded to dodge through defensive traffic before launching one of her game-leading four shots – this one from just outside the six… Mananquil's first goal of the season gave Rice a 2-0 advantage, which lasted through the intermission. In the game's 50th minute, the Owls found the back of the Bulldog net a third time. Darcy Mickalow found Mikeska on a free kick after a foul, and Mikeska punched in her second goal of the afternoon to stretch the margin to 3-0… The two-goal game was Rice's first of the year and the first of Mikeska's career. The Owls finished with a 13-6 advantage in shots and a 6-1 difference in corner kicks… A total of 23 different Owls played in the game for Rice. LA Tech dropped to 9-5-1 overall and 2-3-1 in conference.
SCHEDULE CHANGE: The league match at Charlotte (originally scheduled for Sept. 16 but postponed due to Hurricane Florence) will now take place at Charlotte on Oct. 28. Official start time for the rescheduled match is 12 Noon (1 pm Eastern).
