Sports Notebook: Soccer splits games out on the West Coast

By Natalie Clericuzio     9/9/10 7:00pm

Last weekend, the soccer team traveled to the Bay Area to play a pair of matches against the University of California at Berkeley and the University of San Francisco.On Friday evening, Rice faced off against No. 19 Cal, the first ranked team the Owls have faced all season. Almost immediately after the opening of the match, the Bears proved why they have earned their ranking, scoring in the fifth minute of the match. With hardly any time for Rice to rebound, Cal again scored off of a penalty kick in the 10th minute. In the 11th minute, the Golden Bears had extended their lead to 3-0 with a direct free-kick by forward Alex Morgan.

The Owls avoided a shutout when senior forward Korey Taylor scored in the 40th minute for Rice.

However, in the 86th minute, Cal scored the final goal of the game, posting the final score of 4-1.

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On Sunday, the team played their second West Coast contest, facing off against San Francisco. The game began uneventfully, with no scoring by either team until the 36th minute, when San Francisco scored. When it looked as though Rice might leave the Golden State winless, the Owls answered in the 60th minute when a goal by senior midfielder Kate Edwards evened the score at 1-1. The two teams continued to battle throughout the rest of regulation. However, five minutes into overtime, junior forward Annie Kadota scored for Rice to give the Owls the win and improve their overall record to 2-3.

Kadota believed the win over San Francisco will help the team maintain a high level of play.

"This definitely is a big confidence boost," Kadota said. "If we stay positive like we did in the game, the results will come."

The sentiment was seconded by Edwards, whose goal gave her sole possession of third place on the Owls' all-time scoring list with 19.

"Even against Baylor [University] and Texas Tech [University] we couldn't put the ball away. The coaches harped on us after those games and we've practiced well since then," Edwards said. "We finished much better last game. It was really encouraging to see the forwards play well."

The Owls will battle against the University of Texas-San Antonio tonight at Rice Track/Soccer Stadium. The Roadrunners bring a 4-2 record to Houston and are coming off of a 6-0 drubbing of Grambling State University. A trip north to Norman, Okla. to take on the University of Oklahoma will follow on Sunday. The Sooners have compiled a 2-1-1 record, the latest match being a tie against Colorado College that went into two overtimes.

Rice will enter the heart of their conference schedule after their homestand and will look to take several key road games in order to improve their standing in the conference and subsequently their seeding in the C-USA Tournament.

- Natalie Clericuzio

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