Women's soccer loses to Baylor

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by Matthew Chrisman

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Rice came out very flat to start the game, mentally unprepared for the strong Baylor pressure.

According to junior captain Sarah Newton, "We just weren't ready."

The Bears took advantage of this and scored two quick goals in the first six minutes of the game.

"We went out there, and we didn't settle down quick enough," freshman halfback Chappell Marmon said.

"We were intimidated by them because they're the top-ranked team in the seven state region."

This seemed to wake the sluggish Rice team up, and the rest of the half was a very strong defensive stalemate.

Both Baylor and Rice had close attempts on shots at goal, but neither team could finish.

"I think it was the first game we really had to play a tight defense, so maybe it was a reaction of those two goals scored on us," Marmon said.

"We began playing too defensively trying not to let them score again."

The Owls came out strong in the second half, holding play primarily to the midfield.

"In the second half, we rose to the level we're capable of playing at," freshman goalie Ellen Lansden said.

The Rice defense held the strong Baylor team scoreless through most of the half.

In the last 10 minutes of the game, however, the defense broke down and allowed the final Baylor goal.

Although disappointed with the loss, the Owls weren't completely disappointed with their performance.

Baylor is always one of the strongest teams on Rice's schedule.

A 3-0 loss, especially considering that most of the game was evenly matched, was quite impressive, according to the players.

"I think that it was the first game where we were really challenged," Marmon said.

In the past, Baylor has beaten Rice soundly, usually playing the second string players for most of the game.

This year, however, Baylor obviously considered Rice a viable opponent, as it played its best players for most of the match.

The Rice team was disappointed with the loss, but encouraged with their play.

"One reason that they beat us was that they were in overall better shape than we were," Marmon said.

"We've been doing better in practices. We need to work better on stringing together passes to go down the field. We were panicking on defense."

The Owls will host their next game against Texas A&M University tomorrow at 2 p.m.

"A&M is a challenging team," Marmon said, "We actually did change our line-up for the Baylor game to make our defense stronger, but we'll go back to our regular lineup against Texas A&M. I don't think we'll let the defeat get us down."

This item appeared in the Sports section of the September 29, 1995 issue.

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