Oct. 5, 2005

THIS WEEK: The Rice soccer team, 6-4-0 on the season and leading Conference USA with a 2-0 record, is back on the road for a pair of league games this weekend (Oct. 7-9). The Owls face the University of Tulsa (5-5-2, 0-1-0) Friday night at the Golden Hurricane Soccer Stadium. Start time is slated for 7 pm. The Blue and Gray then meets SMU (7-3-1, 1-0-0) in Dallas on Sunday. Kickoff with the Mustangs is 1 pm at Westcott Field on the SMU campus.

QUICK ON THE OWLS: After sweeping both of its first two C-USA games last weekend, Rice is in sole possession of first place in the current league standings. The Owls have a total of four points for the two conference wins and lead UTEP and UAB (both with three points) in the ledgers. The team averages a steady 19.4 shots per contest and has scored 28 goals in 10 games. Rice is second in C-USA with 2.6 assists per game and fourth in corner kicks (5.6 p/g).

The Owls have four losses but a closer look at the those games, however, is in order. Three of the losses were on the road and two were against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament a year ago. Two of the opponents, Nebraska and Texas, were ranked among the nation's Top 25 at the time. Saint Louis is regionally ranked with a solid 8-3 record.

With 13 letterwinners returning to the roster, including five starters from last season's squad that won a school record 14 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, Rice received some preseason attention around the region and in Conference USA. Rice was picked to finish fourth in Conference USA on a preseason vote of the league's 12 head coaches despite never having played a game in the league. The results of that C-USA coaches' poll are on page two of this release.

CHRIS HUSTON: Now in her fifth season at the helm of the Rice soccer program she started from scratch, Chris Huston has guided the Owls to an established spot alongside the more experienced teams in the state of Texas and the NCAA. The 2004 season was her best yet, with the program earning an NCAA bid and a regional ranking as well as setting new school records for wins (14), goals (36), points (100) and shutouts (14). For the sensational season, Huston was named the 2004 Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year on a vote of the leagues' head coaches. It is her second time to earn the honor after winning the award in 2001. Huston's won-loss record at Rice is 42-39-6. Her career college coaching record is 64-55-8.

The 2005 season may be Rice's first year in C-USA, but it's not the first for the former University of North Carolina standout. She served as the head coach at the University of Houston for two years after starting that program in 1998. The Owls' head coach owns a career C-USA record of 18-5-1.

PREVIOUSLY: The Owls snappd a three-game losing streak with wins over Marshall and East Carolina last weekend. Against ECU, the front line of Clory Martin, Lennie Waite and Anne Candee all scored goals while freshman goalkeeper Adriene Giese was perfect in the net for a 3-0 win. The Blue and Gray may have been playing its first game in 12 days after cancelling last weekend's action due to the threat of Hurricane Rita, but the team looked sharp. The Owls controlled the tempo in the first half and took a 1-0 lead by out-shooting the Pirates 6-1. Rice added a pair of goals in the second half to seal the win.

Two days later freshman midfielder Ashley Lucas assisted on both Rice goals while Giese and the defense made it stand up as the Owls' recorded a second-consecutive shutout in a 2-0 victory over Marshall. The Blue and Gray out-shot the Thundering Herd 26-4 for the game, including 12-0 in the first half. Lucas set up both scores early in the contest. She found redshirt freshman Caitlin Robbins in the 18th minute and sophomore midfielder Samantha Conn in the 29th. Rice held a 14-4 advantage in second half shots and the corner kicks followed suit at 10-3.

GIESE EARNS C-USA HONOR: Freshman goalkeeper Adriene Giese was named the C-USA soccer defender of the week for Oct. 2 the league office announced on Monday (Oct. 3). Giese helped Rice improve to 6-4 by posting a pair of back-to-back complete game shutouts against East Carolina and Marshall to open league play. She worked all 180 minutes in goal for the two games, registering a total of seven saves. The standout from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., won her fifth and sixth games of the season and registered her third shutout on the year.

Giese is the second Rice soccer player this season to earn one of the two C-USA soccer awards presented to that week's top offensive and defensive players. Redshirt freshman Caitlin Robbins was named the league's offensive player of the week on Aug. 29 after a sterling pair of games.

STREAKS FOR STARTERS: Senior defender Erin Droeger, an all-region and all-conference honoree last season, has started every Rice game in which she has played dating back to her freshman year in 2002. Droeger's career starts now stands at 69 games to tie for the third-highest total in school history. The native from Huntington Beach, Calif., had started 61 consecutive games at one point, but Owls' star did not play in the 12-0 runaway victory over Texas Southern (Sept. 1). Junior midfielder Vanessa Serrano has a streak of starting all 51 games in which she has played, the sixth-highest total at Rice. Sophomore defender Laura Barber owns a similar streak by starting all 33 games of her Rice career. Sophomore Clory Martin's streak of consecutive starts ended at 25-in-a-row earlier in the year (Sept. 4). Sophomore defender Beth Martin has 30 consecutive Division I starts that includes her freshman season at Northwestern a year ago.

POINTS OF INTEREST: On Sunday forward Caitlin Robbins climbed into fifth on the school's list for points in a single season. Robbins tallied her team-leading fifth goal of the season against Marshall to give her a total of 15 points. The standout from nearby Lamar High School is tied for fourth in goals scored in a single season. She also co-leads the team with five assists, the third-highest season mark in Rice history.

SERIES NOTES: Rice, Tulsa and SMU all have have a series history for soccer that pre-dates their arrival in Conference USA this season. The schools played some memorable soccer games as members of the Western Athletic Conference the last four years. The Rice-Tulsa series history is tied 2-2, with the Owls winning each of the last two meetings by narrow 1-0 scores. Win or lose, every Rice-Tulsa game since 2001 has been determined by a one-goal margin. The Owls are 1-1 when facing the Golden Hurricane on the road, but the team does have a winning 2-1 mark when playing in the city of Tulsa after winning at Oral Roberts University in 2001.

The Blue and Gray is still looking for its first-ever win over SMU. The Mustangs own a 6-0 lead in the all-time series, including four head-to-head games in the last two years. SMU clained a 2-0 win in the most-recent meeting at 2004 the WAC Championship Tournament in Honolulu. Rice is 0-3 when facing the Ponies on the road in Dallas.

HOMETOWNERS: When the Owls head to Dallas on Sunday it is a homecoming for no less than eight players on the Rice roster. Freshmen Anne Candee and Ashley Lucas as well as sophomore Lindsay Jaggers are all from "Big D." Senior Kelly Brolan, junior Maria Fadool and freshman Christine Petric are from nearby Colleyville. Junior Brandy Bellow (Park Cities) and freshman Alexa Coralli (Plano) round out the Owls' Metroplex connection.

RICE TO HOST C-USA TOURNAMENT: Rice has the honor of hosting the 2005 Conference USA Tournament in November. The league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament will be on the line at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium Nov. 2-6. Sunday's championship final will be televised live by College Sports Television.

QUICK ON THE COMPETITION: Tulsa is off to a 5-5-2 start and has been playing well as of late. The Golden Hurricane enter Friday night's contest having won three of their last four games. Tulsa returns 14 letterwinners, including eight starters, from a year ago. SMU is 7-3-1 overall and 1-0 in C-USA action. The Mustangs return eight starters and 15 letterwinners from last season's team that won the WAC regular season and conference tournament championships. SMU hosts the University of Houston on Friday night.

NEXT WEEK: The Owls are back home to face crosstown rival Houston on Oct. 14. Start time with the Cougars is slated for 7 pm at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium.

THREE RANKED FOES: The Sept. 18 contest against Texas was the Owls' third game against a ranked opponent this season. That's the most ranked foes Rice soccer has faced in one season since the program began in 2001. The 2002 team played two ranked teams. The 2005 Owls are 1-2 against ranked teams with a 2-1 win over Auburn and a 3-1 loss at Nebraska.

UP CLOSE WITH THE OWLS: This year fans will have two ways to get some extra insight to the Rice soccer team via the Internet. Senior Erin Droeger, a member of the 2004 NSCAA all-central region team, will keep a weekly web journal about life as a Rice student-athlete. The players will also be featured one-by-one in the new "Just For Kicks" segment. Fans can check out these features on the web at RiceOwls.com.

HOME SWEET HOME: Returning home for a game is good news. In 40 games played on campus at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium, the Owls own an all-time record of 24-13-3 (.618). Rice began the 2005 campaign with a 4-1 record in five consecutive home games, the longest homestand in Rice soccer history.

CROWDING THE HOUSE: With a good home record, it makes sense that good home attendance follows suit. Rice is averaging 579 fans for five home games in 2005. That is the largest home attendance average for any soccer team in Conference USA. The opening day attendance of 1,276 was the fourth-largest crowd in Rice soccer history. The singe-game attendance record is 1,752 for the program's NCAA debut vs. Army in 2001. Rice has also drawn crowds of 1,487 for Texas State and 1,360 for crosstown rival Houston, both in 2001. The highest average attendance for a full season is 815 per game in 2001.