Thursday, August 23
Houston, TX
7:00 pm CT
Rice University
vs
SMU
Photo by: Maria Lysaker
Owls Host SMU Thursday Night
8/21/2018 10:08:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Start Time Set For 7 PM At Holloway Field
WATCH LIVE: http://conferenceusa.com/watch/default.aspx?Live=5012 (activates at game-time)
LIVE STATS: https://riceowls.com/sidearmstats/wsoc/summary (activates at game-time)
BUY TICKETS: https://oss.ticketmaster.com/aps/rice/EN/buy/details/18WS0823
THIS WEEK: The Rice soccer team wraps-up its current homestand on Thursday (Aug. 23) against longtime state rival SMU. Start time is slated for 7 pm at the Owls' Holloway Field. The Blue & Gray then take to the road for a match at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sunday (Aug. 26) at 6 pm.
FUN & GAMES!: There's always a lot of activities and promotions at home Rice soccer games. Thursday is the first soccer Club Night of the season! All youth teams in uniform receive free admission at the gate (guests must pay for admission). All fans can also enter to win a free soccer ball signed by the Owls!
QUICK ON THE OWLS (0-1-0): 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 season with a career record of 70-47-22. 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. 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.
WATCHING WALKER: Senior forward Annie Walker is one of just 45 Division I women's soccer players named to the inaugural 2018 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, presented by World Wide Technology, the Missouri Athletic Club and United Soccer Coaches announced on Aug. 9. The MAC Hermann Trophy, presented by World Wide Technology, is the most prestigious individual award in college soccer and is presented annually to the most outstanding women's and men's players of the year. The award's respective watch lists are compiled by members of the United Soccer Coaches Men's and Women's NCAA Division I All-America Committees. Fifteen semifinalists will be named for both the men's and women's MAC Hermann Trophy near the end of the college season based on voting by NCAA Division I coaches and from those candidates. Three finalists will ultimately be placed on the ballot for the coveted award. This year's winners will be announced Friday, Jan. 4, 2019 at the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis. Seventeen of the 45 players on the women's watch list were United Soccer Coaches All-America selections last season.
C-USA PRESEASON FAVORITE & INDIVIDUAL HONORS: IRVING, Texas – Led by the duo of preseason honorees Maya Hoyer and Annie Walker the defending Conference USA regular season champion Rice soccer team was picked first in the 2018 C-USA head coaches' poll announced on Aug. 6. The preseason all-conference honors and ranking were determined on a vote of the 14 C-USA head soccer coaches. This is the second time since 2014 for Rice to be tabbed as the league's preseason favorite. A year ago Walker led the conference, and was tied for ninth in the nation, in assists per game. The senior forward from Grand Blanc, Michigan, passed out nine assists on Rice goals last season while also scoring four of her own as the Owls went on to post a 9-0-1 record in C-USA matches. Walker also finished among the C-USA leaders in shots and is serving as a Rice team captain for a second-consecutive year. As a sophomore last season the league coaches voted Hoyer as the C-USA Goalkeeper of the Year. The Los Gatos, Calif., native tied for 39th in the nation with eight complete game shutouts in first season as a starter. Hoyer also tied for the C-USA lead in shutouts despite playing three fewer matches than the league's other co-leader.
THE RICE-SMU SERIES: SMU leads the all-time series with Rice 10-6-2 dating back to 2001, Rice's first year to field a varsity soccer program. The teams have not played since September of 2015 when the squads finished in a 1-1 double-overtime tie at Rice's Holloway Field. The Owls are 4-1-2 in the last seven meetings vs. SMU and have not lost to the Mustangs in Houston since 2006. Rice and SMU were scheduled to play in Dallas in 2016, but weather forced the cancellation of that match.
THE RICE-A&MCC SERIES: Rice leads the all-time series with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 2-0-0. The Owls claimed a 4-0 victory over the Islanders at home last season and a 2-0 decision in Corpus Christi in 2015. A 2014 meeting between the teams was scheduled for 2014, but rain and lightning washed away that contest before it could become official at 70 minutes completed.
LAST WEEK: Visiting Texas scored a pair of first half goals before finishing with a 3-0 win over the Rice soccer team in the season-opener for both teams Aug. 17 at Holloway Field in Houston… Friday's Rice-Texas contest had an elite distinction of one of only seven opening day games from across the country between teams that both reached the NCAA Tournament in 2017. The Owls hit the framework of the goal twice in the first half but had nothing to show for it. True freshman Caleigh Boeckx hit the top of a post in the tenth minute. Marissa Topolski launched a rocket shot off the crossbar in the 37th. Converting either shot attempt, or both, could have swung the momentum with a tie score at the intermission… The No. 17 ranked Longhorns held a 15-9 advantage in shots and a 9-3 margin in corner kicks. Topolski paced Rice with three shot attempts in the contest. Owl goalkeeper Maya Hoyer recorded a total of seven saves… "Texas is ranked as high as they are for a reason," said Rice head coach Nicky Adams. "We're young and going to have some growing pains, but some of the things we did today were completely uncharacteristic of our team. (On the two shots off the goal) if we put those in those in the back of the net those are moment-changers. This is only game one. We have a long season."
LIVE STATS: https://riceowls.com/sidearmstats/wsoc/summary (activates at game-time)
BUY TICKETS: https://oss.ticketmaster.com/aps/rice/EN/buy/details/18WS0823
THIS WEEK: The Rice soccer team wraps-up its current homestand on Thursday (Aug. 23) against longtime state rival SMU. Start time is slated for 7 pm at the Owls' Holloway Field. The Blue & Gray then take to the road for a match at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sunday (Aug. 26) at 6 pm.
FUN & GAMES!: There's always a lot of activities and promotions at home Rice soccer games. Thursday is the first soccer Club Night of the season! All youth teams in uniform receive free admission at the gate (guests must pay for admission). All fans can also enter to win a free soccer ball signed by the Owls!
QUICK ON THE OWLS (0-1-0): 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 season with a career record of 70-47-22. 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. 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.
WATCHING WALKER: Senior forward Annie Walker is one of just 45 Division I women's soccer players named to the inaugural 2018 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, presented by World Wide Technology, the Missouri Athletic Club and United Soccer Coaches announced on Aug. 9. The MAC Hermann Trophy, presented by World Wide Technology, is the most prestigious individual award in college soccer and is presented annually to the most outstanding women's and men's players of the year. The award's respective watch lists are compiled by members of the United Soccer Coaches Men's and Women's NCAA Division I All-America Committees. Fifteen semifinalists will be named for both the men's and women's MAC Hermann Trophy near the end of the college season based on voting by NCAA Division I coaches and from those candidates. Three finalists will ultimately be placed on the ballot for the coveted award. This year's winners will be announced Friday, Jan. 4, 2019 at the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis. Seventeen of the 45 players on the women's watch list were United Soccer Coaches All-America selections last season.
C-USA PRESEASON FAVORITE & INDIVIDUAL HONORS: IRVING, Texas – Led by the duo of preseason honorees Maya Hoyer and Annie Walker the defending Conference USA regular season champion Rice soccer team was picked first in the 2018 C-USA head coaches' poll announced on Aug. 6. The preseason all-conference honors and ranking were determined on a vote of the 14 C-USA head soccer coaches. This is the second time since 2014 for Rice to be tabbed as the league's preseason favorite. A year ago Walker led the conference, and was tied for ninth in the nation, in assists per game. The senior forward from Grand Blanc, Michigan, passed out nine assists on Rice goals last season while also scoring four of her own as the Owls went on to post a 9-0-1 record in C-USA matches. Walker also finished among the C-USA leaders in shots and is serving as a Rice team captain for a second-consecutive year. As a sophomore last season the league coaches voted Hoyer as the C-USA Goalkeeper of the Year. The Los Gatos, Calif., native tied for 39th in the nation with eight complete game shutouts in first season as a starter. Hoyer also tied for the C-USA lead in shutouts despite playing three fewer matches than the league's other co-leader.
THE RICE-SMU SERIES: SMU leads the all-time series with Rice 10-6-2 dating back to 2001, Rice's first year to field a varsity soccer program. The teams have not played since September of 2015 when the squads finished in a 1-1 double-overtime tie at Rice's Holloway Field. The Owls are 4-1-2 in the last seven meetings vs. SMU and have not lost to the Mustangs in Houston since 2006. Rice and SMU were scheduled to play in Dallas in 2016, but weather forced the cancellation of that match.
THE RICE-A&MCC SERIES: Rice leads the all-time series with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 2-0-0. The Owls claimed a 4-0 victory over the Islanders at home last season and a 2-0 decision in Corpus Christi in 2015. A 2014 meeting between the teams was scheduled for 2014, but rain and lightning washed away that contest before it could become official at 70 minutes completed.
LAST WEEK: Visiting Texas scored a pair of first half goals before finishing with a 3-0 win over the Rice soccer team in the season-opener for both teams Aug. 17 at Holloway Field in Houston… Friday's Rice-Texas contest had an elite distinction of one of only seven opening day games from across the country between teams that both reached the NCAA Tournament in 2017. The Owls hit the framework of the goal twice in the first half but had nothing to show for it. True freshman Caleigh Boeckx hit the top of a post in the tenth minute. Marissa Topolski launched a rocket shot off the crossbar in the 37th. Converting either shot attempt, or both, could have swung the momentum with a tie score at the intermission… The No. 17 ranked Longhorns held a 15-9 advantage in shots and a 9-3 margin in corner kicks. Topolski paced Rice with three shot attempts in the contest. Owl goalkeeper Maya Hoyer recorded a total of seven saves… "Texas is ranked as high as they are for a reason," said Rice head coach Nicky Adams. "We're young and going to have some growing pains, but some of the things we did today were completely uncharacteristic of our team. (On the two shots off the goal) if we put those in those in the back of the net those are moment-changers. This is only game one. We have a long season."
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's Soccer
GK
/ Women's Soccer
F
/ Women's Soccer
F
/ Women's SoccerWBB: Rice vs. Marshall Postgame Presser
Wednesday, March 09
VB: Rice-Texas Postgame Presser
Saturday, December 04
VB: Rice-San Diego Postgame Presser
Thursday, December 02