the Rice Thresher

Issue date: 10/10/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Joel Kahn Freshman Nikki Storness moves by a Tulsa defender in the double-overtime win on Sunday. Storness came in to relieve an exhausted front line.

A record setting weekend for both the players on the field and the coach on the sideline has left the soccer team hanging on to second place in the Conference USA standings. With a difficult road trip ahead of them and only three points separating five teams from second place, late game heroics against Southern Methodist University and the University of Tulsa could not have been more timely.

The Owls had only beaten SMU one time prior to their meeting on Friday and never at home. An early goal from sophomore midfielder Kate Edwards on a penalty kick given for a foul in the box gave the squad a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute.

Unfortunately for them, a 1-0 lead was not something the Owls could hold onto this weekend. In the 59th minute, sophomore goalkeeper Meghan Erkel batted away a corner kick that landed in front of goal, but she could not keep SMU freshman Dylan Jordan from converting off the rebound in her first career goal.

As the game was tied up, an extra load was mounted on the squad's back.

"We talked a lot about SMU the week before," junior Shelly Wong said. "We were really hoping we could get the win. Not only because it was SMU, but also so that our coach could have her hundredth win on a Friday night home game."

Unbeknownst to head coach Chris Huston, career win number 100 hung in the balance as the Owls mounted their counterattack.

SMU was limited to only five shots in the second half compared to 10 in the first, as the backline fell into its defensive groove. Finally, in the 75th minute, junior Erin Scott delivered the game winner after a pass out of the left corner from freshman Amy Beger. Simultaneously, two bits of history were made when the Owls defeated SMU for the first time at home home, and Huston reached the century mark.

"I didn't have any clue," Huston said. "At the end of the game, I was just trying to address the team, and they kept telling me, 'Turn around! Turn around!' Having the 100th win be against a team that we had never beaten before at home was a great win."

After beating one former Western Athletic Conference rival on Friday in a thrilling manner, another awaited and delivered an even more thrilling finish.

Continued...

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