HOUSTON – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's soccer team dropped a tight 1-0 match to the Rice Owls Sunday at Holloway Field in the first contest between the two programs.
The lone goal of the match came in the 65
th minute from Rice's (3-1-0)
Leah Chancey. UTRGV (0-2-1) freshman goalkeeper
Heiddis Sigurdardottir finished the match with seven saves on 17 shots faced.
Sigurdardottir made four saves to keep the battle scoreless at halftime. Rice outshot the Vaqueros 10-3 in the opening half as it was the aggressor offensively, earning five corners to UTRGV's one. But the Vaqueros played tough defense and Sigurdardottir was solid in net, knocking away good looks or grabbing tight shots to keep her team in it. Junior defender
Libbie Mayfield made a highlight-reel tackle in the 27
th minute to halt a would-be tough scoring chance for the Owls.
UTRGV's three first-half shots came from freshman forward
Jordan Matthews, Mayfield and sophomore defender
Rosie Train. Matthews' shot was the Vaqueros' first in the 21
st minute and arguably UTRGV's best chance in the first half as freshman
Lisa Elowsson tapped the ball to Matthews inside the box, but the shot was deflected.
After a back-and-forth start to the second half, Chancey got Rice the 1-0 lead in the 65
th minute. Chancey led the Owls on an offensive flurry, looking like she scored the first goal of the match in the 64
th minute off a deflection after Sigurdardottir made a stop, but it was called offsides. Rice came right back and Chancey got her score.
The Owls kept riding that wave and threatened in their offensive third, but Sigurdardottir notched a pair of good saves to keep the match within reach. The Vaqueros responded with some offensive pressure of their own led by junior forward
Olivia Trotter, sophomore midfielder
Linnea Eld and Elowsson and took several shots in the final 20 minutes of play, but Rice's defense held.
UTRGV matched Rice with seven shots each in the second half, with both teams putting four shots on goal. Eld put all three of her shots on goal as she pushed the Vaqueros offense to a new level late in the match as they fought to even things up.
The Vaqueros will return to the UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex for a Thursday match at 6:30 p.m. against Southern. Attendance is free but fans will need a digital pass to gain entrance. Fans can sign up for the UTRGV Soccer Pass at
GoUTRGV.com/SoccerPass.
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