University of Houston
Sam Houston State
Soccer Takes Season Opener 1-0 Over Sam Houston State
9/7/2007 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Sept. 7, 2007
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HOUSTON - A goal by Islara Rodriguez (Houston, Texas/Awty International School) in the 59th minute propelled the University of Houston soccer team to a 1-0 win over Sam Houston State in the season opener, Friday on John O'Quinn Field at Robertson Stadium.
Rodriguez's goal, the first of her career, came off a one-versus-one encounter with Bearkat goalkeeper Jenny Pence. Rodriguez dribbled her way through the defense, faking out three players before knocking the ball into the left side of the net.
It's nice to get a win in the opener, the first of many I hope," Rodriguez said. "The ball was played at my feet and I was able to make a couple of moves and knock it in. It was a good team effort tonight. We played well, but we know we have things to work on."
Rodriguez finished with a match-high seven shots. Sam Houston State (0-3) only took eight shots as a team, compared to 17 for the Cougars. Eleven of UH's shots were on goal, forcing Pence to make eight saves.
Shelby Scott (Mesquite, Texas/North Mesquite HS) played the full 90 minutes in net for Houston and made two saves. She is seven wins away from tying UH's all-time record, held by Michelle Denomme', with 17 wins.
Houston (1-0) won its season opener for the second-straight year and gave head coach Susan Bush her first career victory.
"It's great to get the first victory," Bush said. "Now that we've played an official game, we know how hard we have to work every night to make sure it happens again. I thought our team played with a lot of effort and left it out on the field. I'm going to be expecting that every match as we move forward through the season."
The game went scoreless in the first half with UH holding a 6-2 shot advantage. The Cougars best chance came off a free kick in the first half. Jessica Rathweg (Spring, Texas/Klein HS) sent a ball into the box that connected with Lauri Byrne (Southlake, Texas/Southlake Carroll HS) but ended up being punched out of bounds by Pence.
Houston is back in action on the road Sunday, taking on Louisiana Lafayette at 1 p.m. CDT .
