Owls Host Final Two Home Games This Weekend
10/18/2018 9:34:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Five Seniors To Be Honored On Friday Night
THIS WEEKEND: FIU at Rice, Friday (Oct. 19 at 7 pm)
LIVE STATS: https://riceowls.com/sidearmstats/wsoc/summary
WATCH ONLINE: http://conferenceusa.com/watch/default.aspx?Live=5038&path=rice
Florida Atlantic at Rice, Sunday (Oct. 21 at 1 pm)
LIVE STATS: https://riceowls.com/sidearmstats/wsoc/summary
WATCH ONLINE: http://conferenceusa.com/watch/default.aspx?Live=5039&path=rice
(Internet features activate at game time, and may contain data from a previous event until the actual start.)
HAIL SENIORS!: This weekend Rice's five seniors, Gabriella Martinez, Dominique Mazero, Darcy Mickalow, Marissa Topolski and Annie Walker are playing in their final home games of their Rice career. The five Rice seniors, who have amassed 38 wins in the last three-plus years, will be honored before the start of Friday's match vs. FIU.
MORE SPECIAL PROMOTIONS: – In addition to Friday's senior festivities there are two special promotions scheduled for Sunday. The FAU match will be Beach Day, so be sure and bring your shades and sun-block! Sunday is also Non-Profit Day, so anyone who works for a non-profit organization can get tickets for only $5! Visit riceowls.com/nonprofit and use promo code: nonprofit to get your discounted tickets today! Contact the Rice Athletics Ticket Office at 713-348-OWLS (6957), or at the above link, for more details.
QUICK ON THE 2018 OWLS (5-7-1, 3-3-0 C-USA): The 2018 Rice soccer team returned 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. Injuries, however, sidelined some of the veteran players and key contributors over the course of the season. There was in fact one game where the Blue & Gray started five true freshmen in the lineup. The Rice offense averages 13.6 shots per game and has maintained a steady .407 shots-on-goal percentage.
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 85-53-23. 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-FIU SERIES: The Owls have faced FIU only three times since the Panthers joined Conference USA in 2013. FIU leads the series 2-1-0. Friday's match is the only the second time for the Rice and FIU to play in Houston, and that 2015 meeting is also the most-recent clash between the foes. Note the Panthers did play at Holloway Field when the C-USA Tournament was held at Rice in 2013.
THE RICE-FAU SERIES: Rice leads the series with FAU, 3-1-0. Rice's 6-2 win at Holloway Field a year ago was the first time in the series for the home team to win. In 2014 Rice won the inaugural Owls-v-Owls meeting in Boca Raton, Fla., by a score of 3-2. FAU bounced-back to win the 2015 contest in Houston by the same 3-2 count, only in double-overtime. When the teams played in Florida in 2016, Rice claimed a narrow 1-0 victory in overtime.
DID YOU KNOW?: Do you like consistent scheduling by teams within an athletic department? This weekend the Rice Owls are facing the FIU Panthers Friday night in soccer, Saturday afternoon in swimming, and Saturday evening in football.
PREVIOUS OUTING: BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — The Rice and Western Kentucky soccer teams battled for 90 minutes of regulation and two additional overtime periods before finishing in a 3-3 deadlock on a rain-soaked Sunday (Oct. 14) in Bowling Green, Ky…. With the team's first tie of the season Rice is now 5-7-1 overall and 3-3-1 in C-USA games. The Owls also picked up a coveted point in the league standings to close out the weekend action in eighth place (with Old Dominion) on the conference leaderboard. Rice and ODU both have 10 points in the C-USA standings based on three points for a win and one point for a tie. Western Kentucky fell to 4-7-4 overall and 2-4-2 in conference… Rice opened the scoring midway through the first half. In the 22nd minute Lianne Mananquil lined a corner kick to Annie Walker, who found the back of the WKU net for her third goal of the season. The Owls were back on the offensive again in the 35th minute with Mananquil playing to Marissa Topolski, who quickly crossed the ball into traffic from the right side. Senior Dominique Mazero headed the ball in for her second goal of the season… Western Kentucky battled back to get a score just before the intermission, but a Hilltopper own-goal in the 55th minute put Rice up again by two, 3-1. WKU proceeded to rally for goals in the 62nd and 73rd minutes to tie the match 3-3. The score was deadlocked for the remainder of regulation plus the maximum of two 10-minute overtime periods where the first team score is the winner… For the match the Hilltoppers held a 20-15 advantage in shots while Rice led in corner kicks 6-5. The Owls are 0-1-2 in their last three times to play overtime, and have not won an OT match since October of 2016 (at Florida Atlantic)… "It was a tough-fought match for both teams," said Rice head coach Nicky Adams. "The conditions today made it tough for both teams to get any rhythm. I thought we scored some great goals today from two of our seniors. I am looking forward to celebrating our seniors when we play at home this weekend."
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 Central Time (1 pm Eastern).
