Cary, N.C. – No. 21 Rice rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to down 29
th-ranked Furman, 3-1, in the opening round of the NCAA D1 Women's Soccer Championship Wednesday afternoon at WakeMed Park in Cary, N.C.
The Owls, who stretched their unbeaten run to 11 matches and improved to 13-2-1 on the season, advanced to face No. 5 seed West Virginia in the second round of the NCAA Championship on Saturday at 12 p.m. at WakeMed Park. Furman concluded its 2020-21 season at 8-1-2.
"Congratulations to Rice and to Coach Brian Lee," said Paladin head coach
Andrew Burr. "They have an excellent team and we wish them the best of luck. I'm very proud of our team. We've overcome a lot of obstacles to have a tremendous season. They have worked hard to add another memorable chapter to the history of Furman soccer."
After Rice compiled a 6-1 advantage in shot attempts in the early minutes, Furman broke the deadlock in the 18
thminute. Freshman
Nieva Gaither redirected a pass into the path of redshirt-sophomore
Kyndal Anderson and the forward split two defenders before tucking her shot into the lower left-hand corner at the 17:23 mark. The goal snapped Rice's run of shutouts at eight matches.
Rice's pressure paid off in the 25
th minute. Caleigh Page played a cross from the left to the near side of the box that Natalie Gorgi flicked past Paladin goalkeeper
Addison Corn and into the upper left-hand corner to knot the match at 1-1 at the 24:31 mark. Gorgi double her total and gave the Owls the lead less than 13 minutes later when she ran onto a diagonal pass from Delaney Schultz and finished into the top shelf at 36:44 to give Rice a 2-1 advantage.
Corn made a pair of key saves for Furman early in the second half and
Isabella Gutierrez forced Rice's Bella Killgore into a save on a shot from the top of the box, but the Owls were able to add an insurance goal in the 66
th minute as Schultz fed Mikala Furuto to up the margin to 3-1.
Killgore finished with two saves to earn the victory in goal, while Corn stopped five shots for the Paladins. Rice managed a 22-6 edge in total shots, including an 8-3 margin in shots on target.
