THIS WEEK: After having no games last weekend, the Rice soccer team returns to action with a pair of road contests against Big 12 opponents on Sept. 5 & 7. The Owls (2-0-0) meet No. 17 ranked Oklahoma State (2-0-0) in Stillwater on Friday at 7 pm, followed by a game at the University of Oklahoma (1-2-0) on Sunday at 1 pm.

GREAT START: Rice is off to a flying start. The Owls opened the year with a 2-0 victory over Sam Houston State (Aug. 22) and a 5-1 victory over Texas-San Antonio two days later. The team's 2-0-0 record is tied for the program's best start in school history. The only other time for the Blue & Gray to win both of its first two games was in 2006. That year the team jumped out to a 3-0-0 ledger and eventually stretched its unbeaten streak to 8-0-1. The current 2-0-0 start is even better than the 2004 and 2005 seasons when the Owls advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

LIVE IN-GAME STATS: Live in-game statistics for all Rice matches are posted on the world-wide web. At the start of the game, go to the respective live stats links at the top of this page and follow the action.

QUICK ON THE OWLS: There are 17 experienced players on the roster, including six returning starters from last season's team that finished 12-7-2 and reached the semifinals of the Conference USA Tournament. The Owls' incoming class of freshmen was rated among the best in C-USA... In a preseason poll of the league's 12 head coaches, Rice was picked fourth overall while sophomore midfielder Kate Edwards was named to the coaches' 2008 C-USA Preseason Team... Rice has the honor of hosting the annual C-USA Tournament at the end of the regular season (Nov. 5-9).

SWEET RETURN FOR CANDEE: In the win over UTSA, junior midfielder/forward Anne Candee became only the fifth player in Rice history to score three goals in a single game. What's even more astounding is that Candee was making her first start in an official game in three years after suffering a back injury after the 2005 season. The Dallas, Tex., native scored in the fourth minute against UTSA and added back-to-back goals in the second half to put the game out of reach and secure her first career hat trick. Candee came off the bench in the Aug. 22 season-opener against Sam Houston State. In addition to sharing the goals in a single game record (3), Candee also shares the Rice record for assists in game with three, which she set during the 2005 season. Roy Hobbs anyone?

SMASHING D-I DEBUTS: Freshman forward Annie Kadota was the star of the season-opener, notching the game-winning goal and an assist in her debut at the Division I level. Kadota, one of the Owls' talented newcomers, opened the scoring with a goal in the 31st minute and then assisted on junior Erin Scott's goal just a over a minute later. The Rice rookie from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., 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... In freshman Hope Ward's Division I debut against UTSA, the rookie from nearby Kingwood notched two assists in the team's five-goal performance. For her efforts Ward enters the week as the C-USA leader in assists per game.

OTHER OFFENSIVE EFFORTS: The Junior tandem of Shelley Wong and Erin Scott also had good offensive outings in the opening weekend. Wong came off the bench to score two goals in 51 minutes of action against UTSA. Scott posted a goal and an assist in the first two games. The goal and assist moved Scott into sole possession of fifth place on the school's all-time list for points with 33.

STEADY D:The Owls' only returning defender with regular starting experience, junior Kellen Schugart, worked well with a new-look line. Schugart was part of rotating defensive group consisting of Jordan Holloway (Soph.), Stephanie Crain (redshirt Jr.), Claire Pawlik (Soph. transfer) and Chandra Ewing (a senior who is now playing soccer for the first time in her fifth year of eligibility). Excluding Schugart, the other players combined for only one other Division I start on defense between them.

EWING JUMPS THE TRACK: Senior Chandra Ewing made a name for herself on the Owls' back-to-back C-USA Indoor and Outdoor Women's Track & Field teams, but the versatile star is crossing over to soccer this fall to close out her intercollegiate career. Ewing was a bronze medalist in the 400-meter hurdles in the C-USA Outdoor meet and a member of the Owls' C-USA championship 4x400 relay team. The 6-foot-0 native of Toronto, Canada, is also an accomplished defender at the prep and club levels. Ewing helped lead her club to the Outdoor Ontario Cup twice in 2001 and 2003 and the Indoor Ontario Cup once. She played on the Ontario Provincial team from 2001-2004 and was a member of the Alberta soccer team in 2000. In Rice's two victories to start the season, it was Ewing who in fact played the most combined minutes on the team (169).

STREAKING STARTERS: The sophomore tandem of midfielder Kate Edwards and goalkeeper Meghan Erkel have been in the starting lineup for every game of their collegiate careers. The duo have identical streaks of 23-straight starts for Rice, the longest on the team. Note that neither Edwards nor Erkel are at Baker College.

PLEASED TO MEET YOU: Rice is meeting Oklahoma State and Oklahoma in soccer for the first time. The weekend games are continuing something of a season-opening trend as each of Rice's first four opponents in 2008 (Sam Houston State, Texas-San Antonio, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma) are all first-time foes. The Sam Houston and UTSA games both resulted in Rice wins. Since 2006 the Owls are 6-3-2 when facing an opponent the program has never played before.

THE OPPOSITION: Oklahoma State has earned a national ranking of 17th in the country according to the Internet publication SoccerBuzz.com. The Cowgirls coasted through each of its first two matches of the season, and both of those were played on the road. OSU outshoots its opponents by a margin of almost 3-to-1... Oklahoma came from behind to record a 2-1 victory over Ball State on Sunday (Aug. 31). The Sooners play on the road at the University of North Texas on Friday night before returning home to Norman, Okla., to host the Owls on Sunday (Sept. 7).

AGAINST RANKED TEAMS: Oklahoma State represents the Owls' first game this year against a nationally-ranked opponent. Rice has faced at least one nationally-ranked opponent every year since 2002, a streak that began just one season after starting the program in 2001. The Blue & Gray's record against nationally-ranked teams is 2-7-0. The Owls' most-recent win against a raked team was a 1-0 decision over No. 8 Texas in 2006. Rice also defeated No. 24 Auburn by a score of 2-1 in 2005.

JUST FOR KICKS: This year fans will have a chance to get some extra insight to the Rice soccer team via the Internet. The players will be featured one-by-one in a question & answer segment titled "Just For Kicks." Fans can check out the feature at the following link: Just For Kicks

TV TIME: CBS College Sports, formerly CSTV but the same leader in televising collegiate sports across the country, has hand-picked two Rice soccer games for national TV broadcasts later in the season. The Owls' home game against Texas A&M (Sept. 21) and road game at Memphis (Oct. 12) have both been picked up by CBSC.

OSTENDORF SIDELINED: Junior defender Katelyn Ostendorf, an All-Conference USA honoree on the field and in the classroom, has been sidelined with an injury she suffered in the off-season. The standout from Indianapolis, Ind., is expected to miss the season.

ELSEWHERE AROUND C-USA: Conference USA is in full swing. The league's composite schedule for this weekend is as follows:
Wed., Sept. 3
Troy at Southern Miss 4 pm

Fri., Sept. 5
Tulsa at Louisiana-Monroe 4 pm
Long Island at Colorado College 5 pm
UAB at Kansas 5 pm
East Carolina at UNC-Wilmington 6 pm
Louisiana-Lafayette at Houston 7 pm
The Citadel at Marshall 7 pm
Memphis at Mississippi 7 pm
Rice at Oklahoma State 7 pm
Prairie View A&M at SMU 7 pm
South Dakota at UTEP 8 pm
UCF at Pacific 9 pm

Sun., Sept. 7
Radford at Marshall noon
Ball State at Colorado College noon
Miami at Memphis 1 pm
Rice at Oklahoma 1 pm
Kansas at SMU 1 pm
Tulsa vs. Jackson State 1 pm
UAB at Nebraska 1 pm
Southern Miss at Mississippi 2 pm
UCF at UC Davis 2 pm
Houston Baptist at UTEP 2 pm

WAIBEL LENDS A HELPING FOOT: Over the summer Rice volunteer soccer coach and Houston Dynamo star Craig Waibel made a total of 10 football field goals to help send 30 youths from local hospitals to the Dynamo's SuperLiga semifinal match against Pachuca... Waibel and Houston Texans kicker Chris Brown arranged to have three kids from local hospitals receive free tickets to the Dynamo game for every field goal Waibel could make after the Texans' practice on July 27. With Brown as his holder and coach, Waibel put on a place kicking display. The Owls' volunteer soccer coach made 10-of-14 attempts, including one eye-opening kick from 63 yards. For his effort, 30 local kids got to see the Dynamo in action... Waibel, who helped lead the Dynamo to back-to-back MLS Cup championships each of the last two seasons, has been a volunteer soccer coach at Rice since 2006.

DID YOU KNOW? Rice begins a stretch of three-straight road games this week. It's a tough task to be sure, but it's not the longest road stretch on the 2008 schedule. The Owls play four-straight Conference USA games away from home over a 10-day period from Oct. 10-19.

NEXT IN: The Owls' next game at home is Sept. 14. Rice takes on Ivy League power Princeton in a "meeting of the minds." Start time with the Tigers is set for 1 pm a the Rice Soccer Stadium.