Rice Wins 2005 Conference USA Women's Soccer Championship
Nov. 6, 2005
Women's Soccer Championship Notebook
Live Stats, Recaps and Box Scores
Nov. 6, 2005 Rice became the first school in Conference USA history to successfully defend its home field at the Women's Soccer Championship as the third-seeded Owls blanked fourth-seeded UTEP 3-0 to capture the tournament title on Sunday at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium. Freshman Anne Candee scored a pair of goals in the victory en route to earning the championship's Most Valuable Offensive Player award, while her classmate Adriene Giese earned the Most Valuable Defensive Player award after registering her third shutout of the championship. For Rice (13-6-1), it will be the second-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament after earning an at-large bid in 2004. Candee tallied goals in the third and 65th minute and was the offensive catalyst having a part in five of the team's six goals throughout the team's three-match run to the championship. The Miners (19-3-1) were shutout for the first time this season and will have to wait until Monday to see whether they will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The first Rice goal came off a deflection as Candee collected a loose ball in front of the net and put the shot past UTEP goalkeeper Brittany Popoff, who had just made a diving save off a header by Caitlin Robbins. The Owls stayed on the attack throughout the first half as they outshot the Miners 10-6 and also had eight corner kicks to zero for the Miners. Six of Rice's first-half shots were on goal and Popoff kept the Miner's deficit at a goal by making four diving saves. Giese saw just one shot on goal and made the clean save. The Owls continued to put the pressure on the UTEP defense in the second half putting the match away with a pair of goals. Candee extended the Owls' advantage to 2-0 in the 65th minute when she one-timed a pass from Vanessa Serrano for her third goal of the championship. Robbins then added a late goal in the 78th minute. Robbins extended her school single-season record of goals to 14. For the match, the Owls held a 12-1 advantage on corner kicks and limited the UTEP offense to just three shots on goals after the Miners had scored 10 goals in their first two victories of the championship. Miner forward Melissa Abraham had two shots on goal in finished the championship with a pair of goals. All-Tournament Team Kat Norris, East Carolina Patty Pierce, East Carolina Kelsey Kravec, UCF Roberta Pelarigo, UCF Erin Droeger, Rice Ashley Lucas, Rice Jami Tullius, UTEP Kristin Wernimont, UTEP Brittany Popoff, UTEP Most Valuable Offensive Player Anne Candee, Rice Most Valuable Defensive Player Adriene Giese, Rice
Complete Tournament Schedule Quarterfinals - Wednesday, Nov. 2 Game 1 - (1) UCF 3, (8) Houston 2 Game 2 - (4) UTEP 5, (5) Memphis 4 Game 3 - (7) East Carolina 0, (2) SMU 0 (ECU advances 5-4 on penalty kicks) Game 4 - (3) Rice 1, (6) UAB 0
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