Winning matters to Rice soccer

“WinningMatters” was one of the hashtags that Rice soccer used in their C-USA championship season in 2014, and head coach Nicky Adams has the Owls well-positioned to take a run at repeating, so the tag is staying.

“As the team that won the conference last year and made the NCAA tournament, it’s good for those kids to feel No. 1, and so far this preseason they’re training like they’re No. 1, which is exciting,” Adams said.

Adams, who was also 2014 C-USA coach of the year, returns seven of 11 of the team’s starting players. So lofty are the expectations this year that in a C-USA coaches’ poll released earlier this month, the Owls were picked to finish first, and seniors Lauren Hughes and Jenny Fichera were selected as preseason offensive and defensive players of the year, respectively.

Additionally, the website Top Drawer Soccer alluded to the Owls’ 2014 record in their preseason C-USA story posted this week: “The Owls are better (this year) almost everywhere than a 14-4-3 team.”

“It’s amazing,” Adams said. “I think it’s a testament to the season we had in 2014 and what the players accomplished. It also shows how well our program is respected.

“We’re really excited, but we’re not focusing on that (preseason recognition); we’re just going to focus on one game at a time and do what’s best for us, but at the end of the day, Holly Hargreaves (who is also on the C-USA all-preseason list), Lauren Hughes and Jenny Fichera absolutely deserve to be named on that all-conference team based on their performance in ’14,” Adams said.

@RiceSoccer hashtags:
#Grit
#WinningMatters #whateverittakes
#findaway Last year’s team scoring leader and Rice’s all-time goals leader Hughes is joined up front by Hargreaves, who has started 60-straight matches dating back to her freshman year. Together the offensive duo scored more than half of Rice’s goals last season, with Hughes netting 14 goals and Hargreaves 10.

“Lauren is coming off of one best seasons offensively in Rice soccer history,” Adams said. “And Holly has been doing the same things since her freshman year; it’s consistent, consistent, consistency for us.”

“Last year was incredible; we had great leadership on the team,” Hargreaves said. “We’ve started something great here and something that’s going to continue to grow. We want to become one of those programs that you hear about that ‘This is Rice soccer,’ and these are our values.”

“It’s nice to enter the season knowing our program is so well respected,” Hughes said. “We have a lot of players on our team who can score goals. Holly and I came in together as freshmen, and just as players I think we connect really well on the field. I’ve never connected with another player so well. We just always seem to find each other and know where each other is going to be.”

While the Owls will depend heavily on Hughes and Hargreaves to score goals, senior midfielder Danielle Spriggs, who was selected as one of the team’s captains for 2015, will also lead the team.

“Danielle has had an amazing past two years for us and is a tremendous team player,” Adams said. “She has the ability in tough situations to calm everybody down. On the field she’s a workhorse; we can always count on Danielle to give us 100 percent all of the time, and it’s just contagious.”

The Owls will open the season at home at 7 p.m. Aug. 21 against Texas A&M. The opener is likely a bit more meaningful for fifth-year coach Adams. She was a star player for Aggie teams that won the Big 12 championship in 1997 and Big 12 Tournament titles in 1997 and 2001. The former All-American finished her career near the top of virtually every Aggie offensive category.

In July Adams was selected for induction into Texas A&M’s Lettermen’s Association Hall of Fame. She’ll return to College Station in September for the official ceremony — and hopefully with some early season bragging rights.

Follow Rice soccer all season via Twitter @RiceSoccer and on Facebook. Tickets are available online or by calling 713-348-OWLS (6957).