Women's Soccer - SMU vs. Rice

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

A huge test awaits SMU Friday night at Westcott as Rice comes to town (7pm kickoff). SMU is off to a fantastic start in C-USA action with a 2-0-0 record including a big win over UCF, while Rice is 1-1-0. Rice's loss, however, was a 1-0 home loss to Memphis last Sunday. Memphis is currently 10-0-0 and ranked No. 6 in the country.

Rice's loss to Memphis was legitimate too. They certainly didn't sit back and play for the 0-0. Rice was able to generate 8 shots (7 on goal) against Memphis, and did not concede the goal until the 66th minute. Needless to say, SMU will need to bring a performance similar to the showing against UCF last Friday night for this one.

Overall, SMU is 6-4-0, while Rice is 6-3-1.

In ten matches, Rice has scored 16 goals and allowed 6, so they certainly haven't shown the ability to be a big offensive powerhouse. Their big goal games so far this season have been against the likes of McNeese State, Sam Houston State, and UAB. Of course, to be fair, SMU's only big goal game so far this season has been against Prairie View A&M. Only allowing 6 goals in their 10 games is certainly impressive though. The Owls player to watch is their #10 Jessica Howard, who has 7 of their 16 goals.

Rice's usual starting lineup is very interesting. Their back four features two players who are 6'0" and two who are 5'10". Other than a couple of midfielders who are 5'6" and 5'7" the rest of their preferred lineup are all 5'4" or shorter. Note - this also includes their keeper who is 5'4"! So, SMU should have a decided height advantage across the board against Rice. Hopefully, this will create some good SMU opportunities on set pieces. This match also might be a good time for SMU to turn the physical play up a notch as well.

Of course, the lack of height of the attacking players for Rice probably means they are pretty quick, so the back four of SMU - especially center backs Kaitlyn Eidson and Katherine Cox - will need to be very disciplined in maintaining their position to guard against any quick Rice counter attacks.

One area of concern for SMU that is getting harder and harder to ignore is the depth. Both Rikki Clarke and Ryanne Lewis left the Southern Miss game early and did not return. In a worst-case scenario where neither player is available Friday night, SMU will be left with only two forwards and two defensive players on the bench - note this means no midfield subs will be available.

SMU head coach Brent Erwin gave Rachael Larson a reasonable amount of minutes in midfield both against UCF and Southern Miss, and Katie Bass also had a few minutes in midfield against UCF. Larson would appear to be the first choice "new" midfielder in case Clarke is unavailable Friday night.

Amelia Ambrose will obviously be counted on to step up her role in midfield, and Shelby Hartweck will undoubtedly be called on again to play both forward and right back in order to allow Larson to eat up some minutes in midfield. Needless to say, Eidson, Cox, Courtney Smith, Mallory Baum, and Jessica Bartol will all likely need to play 90 minutes.

This match really is a must-win for SMU to reach their goal of the NCAA tournament. Even with the win over UCF, all of the polls and rankings still have Memphis and UCF ahead of the rest of the pack in C-USA. In order to show the selection committee C-USA deserves SMU as a third team, it will be necessary to beat teams like Rice. Currently in the "unofficial" RPI, RIce is 29 while SMU is 71. A win over Rice would be huge!

One nice positive note for SMU - the Mustangs reappeared in the NSCAA Central regional rankings this week in the "others receiving votes" category. Rice is currently number 5 in the region.

This SMU team has certainly shown the heart and resolve to really step it up when they need to this season (as in the Oklahoma and UCF matches). Hopefully they have another big performance in them Friday night.

Go Ponies!

[Dutch]

Let's go Ponies!

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Game Day!

One more note on this one - the first official NCAA RPI for women's soccer came out this week. Rice is 28. We are 68.

Last season we ended up with an RPI of 53 and were still probably two or three teams from making the tournament, so we obviously have a bit of work to do - which magnifies the importance of tonight.

Rice is the final team on our schedule (other than Memphis of course) with a higher RPI than we have, so we almost have to beat them to boost our RPI up in the range where we will have a shot at the NCAA tournament.

Go Ponies!

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Rice won 1-0.

SMU played hard. SMU fought through the lack of depth. SMU had chances.

Rice had one chance and buried it.

I'm too distraught to offer much more at the moment.

[Mustangsabu]

It's ok, DFFH, we're all a bit gutted by this. But the ladies kept it close and have proved to be a very tough out this year. That will lead to success.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

SMU really did some interesting tactical stuff tonight. The players were just amazing managing the formation changes and switches.

The Mustangs had four absolutely golden chances in the first half.

But honestly, thinking back on the game makes me almost ill right now. It really is a shame to see the players work so hard and not be able to get a result tonight.

I imagine the team and many fans will be awake a lot of the night tonight replaying this one in our heads.

[HeyHey]

We had a lot of offensive energy in the first half, but I think the formation change in the second half absolutely gutted us. It was a more defensive scheme with only 1 forward up top. Rice played a very aggressively which always makes SMU start resorting to playing kickball instead of possession, which again hurts our offense.

On the plus side, I saw the ladies playing with some of the same heart they demonstrated through all of last year.