Soccer gets off to a slow start, drops second straight

By Teddy Grodek     9/2/10 7:00pm

A college soccer game lasts 90 minutes. The soccer team (1-3-0) played a strong second 45 minutes, but it was too little, too late, as they were down 2-0 in the first half of the game last Sunday against in-state rival Texas Tech University (4-0-0) and never recovered. Head Coach Chris Huston said she had hoped the team would have not repeated its previous mistakes.

"The same thing happened against Baylor," Huston said. "When you play against teams this good, you have to play the whole game. We've talked about it a lot this week, and how we're going to play the entire game as good as we played the second half."

Rice fell down 1-0 only 16 minutes into the contest, as Tech forward Jessica Fuston punched the ball into the net from point-blank range after receiving a cross from the right side of the field.

---

---

The Red Raiders then scored again in the first half, again off of a Fuston touch after a cross. It was a sub-par first half for the Owls, who had hopes that this could be a winable game against a major conference opponent.

"We sat down (at halftime) and talked as a team about what adjustments needed to be made," senior goalkeeper Catherine Fitzsimmons said. "We knew we couldn't play as bad as we did in the first half again."

The Owls stormed out of the gate, but still could not put the ball in the back of the net in the second half. They outshot the Raiders 12-7 in the second half, but just could not find the two goals that they needed.

This weekend, the team makes their marquee road trip of the season, traveling to play in the California Tournament, hosted by the University of California-Berkeley. The Owls open up tonight by playing against California (1-2-0), then play Sunday afternoon against the University of San Francisco.

These weekend matches are great opportunities for the Owls to get some wins under their belt, as California is currently ranked 21st in the country and could certainly be a defining win early on in the season. The Owls are hoping for an almost home-field advantage on the trip.

"We have a bunch of girls on the roster that are from California," Fitzsimmons said. "This is going to be really special for a lot of us, going home and getting to play in our own state.

---