NEWS NEWS

Annie Kadota Notches Goal & Assist In First Career Game
Friday Aug 22, 2008
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HOUSTON -- HOUSTON -- Freshman forward Annie Kadota notched a goal and an assist in her first career game at the Division I level to pace the Rice soccer team to a 2-0 victory over visiting Sam Houston State in the season-opener for both teams Friday night at the Rice Track & Soccer Stadium.

Kadota, one of the Owls' talented newcomers, took only two shots in her 83 minutes of action but made the most of her opportunities. The Rice rookie from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., opened the scoring with a goal in the 31st minute and then assisted on junior forward Erin Scott's goal just a over a minute later. Rice head coach Chris Huston, now in her eighth season at the helm of the program, had praise for all the forwards and said the entire team did well in building a comfortable 25-7 lead in shots and a 7-3 advantage in corner kicks.

"Anytime you can get a 'W,' especially in your home-opener and with a shutout on top of that, I think it's great," Huston said. "It's always a challenge at the start of a season. The girls had to get accustomed to playing with each other tonight and they did a good job. Everyone did well up front. They produced lots of shots and got a couple of goals."

The fact that the goals came early in the contest set a tone or, at the very least, gave Friday's new Rice lineup some confidence. In the 31st minute sophomore forward Bianca Walker, making her first career start, dribbled the ball through some Bearkat traffic and served the ball to an open area in the midfield. Kadota played the ball on a sprint and blasted a shot with her left foot to the back of the net from inside the 18-yard line. Kadota became only the fifth Owl in school history to score a goal in her first career game and she did it just 31 minutes into her collegiate career.

Annie's goal was beautiful," said Erin Scott, a veteran who knows a thing or two about goals as the fifth-ranked career scorer in Rice history. "I think it's awesome that she's been working really hard all preseason, and then she gets the first goal of the year. She earned it."
Scott was such a fan of the play that she decided to follow suit with a goal of her own a minute and 17 seconds later. This time Walker flicked the ball to Kadota, and when the Sam Houston defenders made it a point to surround the same freshman goal-scorer from the minute before, Kadota passed it Scott breaking free on the left wing. The Richardson native shot the ball past the keeper into the right-side netting for the 12th goal of her college career. All three forwards touched the ball in giving the Blue & Gray that much-needed insurance goal.

Sam Houston turned up the offensive pressure in the second half, but the Rice goalkeeping tandem of Meghan Erkel and Catherine Fitzsimmons each worked a scoreless half. They combined for only the third shutout victory recorded on opening day in school history. The defense that featured newcomers like senior Chandra Ewing, a Rice track star now playing soccer for the first time in her final year, and sophomore transfer Claire Pawlik, played well alongside Jordan Holloway, Kellen Schugart, Jessica Ross and Stephanie Crain. Disrupting the opposing offense ended up creating more shot chances for Rice.

Scott led the team with seven shots in the game, including three on-goal. Sophomore midfileder Kate Edwards had six shots and redshirt junior Anne Candee took five shots. The game would have been a victory for Candee no matter what the outcome on the scoreboard said. The forward from Dallas had not played in game since injuring her back three years ago. It was Scott who put it in perspective, saying Friday night was in fact the first time she had ever played (in an official game) with Candee at Rice... and Scott's already in her third year with the team. After years in the making, Candee was ready in an emotional return Friday night.

"It was November, November 2005," Candee recalled with a grin about her previous Rice game. "It was amazing playing again. It's great to be back in the competitive spirit. Everyone was supportive. I was excited, but once the game started it was easy to focus on us winning the game."

Rice is now 1-0-0 on the year. The Bearkats open the year with an 0-1-0 record. The Owls next host Southland Conference foe Texas-San Antonio on Sunday (Aug. 24) at 1 pm to close-out the season-opening two game homestand.