Marshall University Athletics
Women's Soccer Spends the Weekend in Houston
10/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 14, 2010
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall women's soccer travels to Houston, Texas this weekend to take on Conference foes Rice and Houston on Oct. 15 and 17.
"It's an exciting weekend. We are two points from being in the final six for the tournament with two and a half weekends left," head coach Kevin Long said. "It's coming down to crunch time. With five games left, each has a great deal of meaning as we get into this weekend."
MU sits at 4-7-2, 2-4-0 C-USA and is in the midst of a three game slump. The Thundering Herd opened a four-game road trip last weekend with a 1-0 overtime loss to UAB, before falling to Memphis 2-0 on Sunday afternoon.
Erika Duncan (Easthaven, Scotland) led the Herd with six shots on the weekend, jumping her up to third place on Marshall's career list. Goalkeeper Lexa Hughes (Everett, Wash.) grabbed 11 saves, including a career-high eight in the match against the Tigers.
Rice (8-5-1, 5-0-1 C-USA) remains unbeaten in its last six contests, and stands atop of the Conference USA standings with its only tie coming to No. 19 UCF on Sunday afternoon. The Owls have presented a diverse attack thus far this season, with four players having recorded team-high three goals on the season. Goalkeeper Catherine Fitzsimmons received the starts over the weekend and snagged 13 saves in the two matches to earn herself C-USA Defensive Player of the Week honors.
The Thundering Herd plays in its final road game of the regular season with a matchup against Houston. The Cougars (9-3-2, 4-1-1) surrendered the top spot in the conference to Rice after going 0-1-1 on the weekend. Lauri Byrne notched her team-leading sixth goal of the season in 2-1 loss to UCF, while Kaci Bush earned her first collegiate goal in the 1-1 tie to Southern Miss.
Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. on Friday at the Rice/Track Soccer Stadium, with Sunday scheduled to start at 2 p.m. at Robertson Stadium.
GameTracker will be available for both weekend matches by logging on to the women's soccer schedule.
