Men's soccer loses opener to Lamar

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by Chuck Whitten

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The game marked the teams' opening contest in the 11-team Texas Collegiate Soccer League.

Rice finished tied for fourth last year behind Texas A&M University, Southwest Texas State University and Baylor University.

Lamar gained an early advantage on a loose-ball scramble 15 minutes into play.

A breakdown on defense resulted in a deflected ball by senior goal-keeper Todd Konkel.

The ball rebounded directly to an open Lamar forward who was able to push the ball back by Konkel, giving Lamar a 1-0 advantage.

Later in the half, a Lamar midfielder took advantage of a gap between Rice's midfielders and fullbacks and blasted a shot from 18 yards out.

The ball caught the very top of the crossbar and rattled in to increase the Lamar advantage to two goals.

The second half was a stalemate. The Owls' offensive chances were hurt by the ejection of junior forward Mike Eggen early in the second half.

Eggen received his second yellow card after being whistled for challenging Lamar's keeper after he had possession of the ball.

The ejection forced the Owls to play with a one-man disadvantage for the rest of the half.

The Owl offense had difficulty overcoming this handicap against the very solid Lamar defense.

The team was never able to control the ball deep in Lamar territory the rest of the way.

Rice debuted a powerful defense led by freshman fullback Mike McClintock, sophomore stopper Jeremy Gibson, sophomore fullback Roger Borchers and senior sweeper Neelesh Kenia.

The group played well, but was hurt by a number of isolated breakdowns.

McClintock was the undisputed star of the game according to team president and fifth year starting midfielder Eric Latchford.

"Mike was the only freshman that started for us," he said.

"He really played an amazing game. I don't think he got beat the whole game."

The Owl defense found itself struggling to clear the ball out of its end for much of the game.

Unable to push the Lamar offense back into midfield, the team had difficulty making a fluid transition from defense to offense.

"We really weren't working the ball very well at times," McClintock said.

"When the ball is stuck in your end, eventually they are going to be able to put it in the goal."

Rice's offense never found its rhythm, getting very few shots on very few runs.

The Owls started an experienced group of forwards including Eggen and junior Ruben Rodriguez.

Ben Gumpert also saw a great deal of time at forward.

The team never really clicked after only having a week of practice before the home opener.

The loss of practice time hurt the Owls' timing and conditioning, and it showed against the Cardinals.

"Our conditioning could have been better, could have been worse," Latchord said. "It should have been better though."

McClintock said, "Conditioning was one of our biggest fault."

Although Rice returned seven starters, many new faces joined the club this year.

The opening game showcased a team deep on talent but short on practice time.

The Owls will use next week to work out the offense and conditioning troubles.

They next play the University of Houston at home tomorrow. Game time is 12 p.m.

This item appeared in the Sports section of the September 15, 1995 issue.

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