Rice Soccer 2011

In mid-September 2008, the soccer team, like every other team on campus, saw its season disrupted by the destruction resulting from Hurricane Ike, as its game against Princeton University was canceled. Flash forward two years later, as the soccer team is hit with another blow when long-time head coach Chris Huston abruptly left the program on September 15. At this point, the Owls were a mediocre 3-4, including a 4-1 shellacking at the hands of the University of California Berkeley. 

 

The team appeared to be on track to occupy the bottom spots of the Conference USA standings, as had become the norm the next few years. Enter assistant coach Nicky Adams, who was promoted to interim head coach after Huston's departure. While the sudden change in leadership could have easily derailed the rest of the season, the team and Adams rallied together, losing just four more games the rest of the regular season and placing fifth in C-USA before losing to Southern Methodist University in penalty kicks in the first round of the C-USA Championship. 

 

Flash forward to August 2011. The Owls return all four players named to all-conference teams, including seniors Amy Beger and Hope Ward, the defensive and offensive leaders for the 2010 edition of the soccer team, respectively. Behind Beger's stifling defense, Rice allowed just under 13 shots per game last season and 0.95 goals per game. In addition to her defense, Beger ranked fourth on the team with 31 shots and tallied one assist. Filling out the defense for the Owls this season will be sophomore Hayley Williams, who started every game for Rice last season and was named to the C-USA All-Freshman squad, junior LaurenLaGro, who logged the third-most minutes on the team in 2010 and sophomores Rachel Petmecky and Alex Trenary, who played in all 20 games last year. Standing between the posts for the Owls will be junior AndieObermeyer, who served as Catherine Fitzsimmons' (Hanszen '11) backup last year. Freshman Amy Czyz will fill in the backup goalkeeper role. 

 

Ward led the way for the Owls on the opposite of the pitch, with three goals and seven assists on the season along with 21 shots on goal. She will joined up front by senior Annie Kadota who had two goals in nine starts last year as well as junior forward Alex Burton, who had two goals in last Friday's 3-0 win in an exhibition match against Houston Baptist University. Sophomore midfielder/forward Jessica Howard started 12 games for Rice last year and tallied three goals on her way to a spot on the C-USA All-Freshman team, while junior Julia Barrow, sophomore Britton Cartwright and freshman Quynh-Nhu Truong will shore up the midfield. 

 

The schedule will include the usual slate of conference foes, along with matches on the road against Texas Tech University tonight and against Texas Christian University next Friday. The Owls will return to Houston to host Louisiana State University and Sam Houston State University over Labor Day weekend before flying to Utah to face Utah State University and Brigham Young University. The Owls will look for revenge against the Cougars, who defeated Rice 1-0 last season.