Men's soccer bounces back with tough 4-3 win
After struggling in a 2-0 loss on Sept. 10 to Lamar University, the Owl offense got two goals from Ben Gumpert and one goal apiece from Rueben Rodriguez and Randy Westbrook.
The team improved to 1-1 in the Texas Collegiate Soccer League.
Things started quickly for Rice as Westbrook looped a pass to Gumpert who beat the Houston goalkeeper one-on-one to give the Owls a 1-0 advantage early in the first half.
"Randy made a really nice pass into the center where I had a clean breakaway," said Gumpert.
"All day long, we kept making a lot of through passes to set up our offense."
Houston fought back to tie the game after bouncing a shot off the post and putting in the rebound past the Rice goalkeeper, junior Todd Konkel.
The second half scoring opened when Gumpert again found daylight giving the Owls a 2-1 advantage.
The Cougars were able to respond as a Houston forward centered the ball around fullback Mike McClintock to an open teammate.
He was able to one-touch the ball into the goal to even the contest at two apiece.
Rice regained the lead later in the half as Westbrook outmaneuvered a Cougar halfback and found Rueben Rodriguez wide open.
Rodriguez blasted a shot by the Houston goalkeeper giving Westbrook his second assist and regaining the lead for Rice 3-2.
Rice widened the gap with 20 minutes left in regulation as Roger Borchers fed Westbrook who scored the final and deciding Rice goal.
Houston continued to pressure the Owl defense and scored a goal with about four minutes left on a cross field pass.
The Owl defense did not allow any more shots during the game to preserve the 4-3 win.
According to his teammates, Gumpert gave the team the opportunities to score.
His two goals forced the Houston defense to overplay his side of the field.
This opened up shot opportunities for the rest of the offense.
Midfielder and team president Erich Latchford said, "Ben Gumpert really came through for us in a big way. He played a really outstanding game."
The team also received a boost from Westbrook's two assists and one goal.
"Randy admitted he did not have that great of a game against Lamar," said Latchford.
"Houston was the type of game we are used to seeing from Randy."
Rice's toughest game of the season comes tomorrow against the University of Texas.
The game is at 7 p.m. in Austin against a Longhorn team that looked strong in a 1-0 win against Baylor University.
"If we play like we did last week, it ought to be a helluva game," said Latchford.
This item appeared in the Sports section of the September 22, 1995 issue.
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