HOUSTON, Texas – The Lamar University women's soccer team closed out preseason play with a friendly exhibition at Rice. Despite dropping the contest 2-1 to the Owls, the Cardinals were able to maintain some ground on Saturday night in Houston.
 
"I thought this was a good challenge for us," said head coach Steve Holeman. "We saw a lot of improvement from Wednesday's scrimmage and that worked well with the system we ran tonight. We ran a different system than normal with some different players, and I thought it worked out well. We are happy with how our preseason turned out and looking forward to Thursday's regular season opener."
 
The Cardinals played a highly defensive battle with the Owls in the first 30-minute frame. Rice tallied just six shots in the first compared to Lamar's two shots. The Owls have put three of their six shots so far on frame, but junior Nicole Panis was able to lock down the net as she grabbed three saves in six shots faced through 30 minutes. Freshman Isela Ramirez continued to show her aggressiveness on the offensive side of the field as she tallied the lone shots for the Big Red.
 
The second period saw Rice pick up their offensive pace as they controlled possession most of the second period. The Owls got off 6 shots in the second 20 minutes, while the Rice defense limited the Cardinals to just one shot in 30 minutes.
 
The final frame again saw the Owls own possession for most of the period. It came in the 73^rd minute that the scoreless tie was broken. The Owls were awarded a penalty kick and the Owl keeper Killgore took the shot and it the top bar, down into the goal for the score. It was not but 10 minutes later that Christine Kitaru was able to grab a free ball in the open from the Rice keeper and put it in the back of the net to even things up.
 
It went onto come down to the final three minutes, and in the 87^th minute, the Owls were able to connect on a cross pass that played into a header that snuck past the LU keeper to give Rice the 2-1 lead and ultimately, the win over the Cardinals. Despite a narrow and defensive game, the Owls managed to fire off 21 shots compared to just five for Lamar.
 
UP NEXT: The Cardinals will look to open the regular season at home on Thursday, August 19 as they host Grambling at the LU Soccer Complex for a 5 p.m. kick off. For information on tickets, please click here.