RICE OWLS: THE FURTHEST TO FALL (Blog date Nov 10, 2012)

To any Houston soccer fan, it should be a shame that the fourth largest city in the country, with seven universities in the area having prolific women's soccer programs, has not a single representative in the national tournament. Rice University provided the biggest hope of the season for the city of Houston. The Owls had doubled their wins column from the previous year when they made it to the Conference USA tournament quarter-finals. With five returning seniors, including two-time All-Conference defender Lauren LaGro, a stellar center-midfielder in sophomore Quinney Truong, and Gabi Iribarne, fresh from representing Argentina at the Women's U-20 World Cup held in Japan last August, the Owls were poised to fare considerably better in this year's edition of the post-season. But the Owls, with the highest expectations in the greater Houston area, suffered the same fate as the other three Division I schools inside the Sam Houston Beltway - out in the first round and no invitation to the big soccer dance - falling to Southern Methodist whom they had defeated in the regular season.

It was an anti-climactic ending to the Owls season, to say the least. Only a sophomore and already named All-Conference first team, Quinney Truong was the most effective center-midfielder I observed this year, the quintessential workhorse in the middle of the offense. She had the knack of taking over the midfield at the right moments, not least because of her unparallelled work ethic on the pitch. She hustled constantly and lead many of Rice's drives with the most consistently creative distribution of the ball. With Gabi on her left, C-USA Freshman of the Year Holly Hargreaves on top, and Academic All-Conference senior Julia Barrow bringing her 3.92 grade point average to the right, Quinney had plenty of options as Rice racked up eight Conference USA wins.

Next year, Quinney, Gabi and Holly will be a season more experienced, faster, quicker and stronger, along with sophomore keeper Amy Czyz, freshmen Jasmine Isokpunwu and All-C-USA second team forward Lauren Hughes. Ranked among the highest in GPA, Coach Nicky Adams will be fielding one of the smartest teams in the nation. I am thus confident that they will find a way to overcome their underachieving woes.

(In her off-season, Gabi Iribarne keeps busy working for the organization she co-founded with her older sister Futbol 4 Dreams, which collects soccer gear and ships it to refugee camps and orphanages around the world, a mission she has been working on since she was a player at Laguna Hills High School in Mission Viejo, California. For more information, go to http://futbol4dreams.weebly.com/.)

Rice center-midfielder Quinney Truong (21) takes on Colorado College defender Alexis Long (6) along the left baseline.

Quinney was all over the field all season long.

(All photos by Kokoy Severino.)

Kokoy Severino has been coaching junior high school soccer in the public school system of the Greater Houston area for 19 years. He holds a National Youth Diploma from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, two coaching certifications from the United States Soccer Federation, and a Master in Educational Leadership degree from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. His research focuses on the relationship between interscholastic competitive soccer and the academic success of at-risk students. He returns regularly to his native country of the Philippines and conducts soccer training sessions for economically disadvantaged youths.

"This blog is to document the intensity, the depth, the passion, the strategic and tactical nuances, the stars, the spectacular play that I witness in the women's teams at the college level. And in doing so, it is my hope that others might be inspired to discover for themselves the beautiful game brought by the women." (Kokoy, from blog entry dated Nov 4, 2012)