On Sunday, Memphis women’s soccer plays against an opponent that does not come around too often: a ranked team in its conference. The last time the Tigers faced off against an in-conference foe who was ranked was in 2021, when they beat then-ranked No. 14 SMU at home 5-0. For the upcoming match against No. 25 Rice, however, Memphis will be on the road.
You’d have to go all the way back to 2010 and the C-USA days to find the last time Memphis won a road game against a ranked opponent during the conference slate, when it beat UCF, who was ranked 23rd at the time, in Orlando 1-0.
Needless to say, this is an opportunity that Memphis needs to take advantage of against a red-hot Owls team. To help break down the matchup, The Daily Helmsman spoke with Patrick Shukis, who is a sports reporter at The Rice Thresher, which is Rice’s student newspaper.
“This team has exceeded expectations so far,” Shukis said. “The one loss being (North Carolina) was kind of expected, then outside of that they’re 8-1-1 after (Thursday’s) win against Temple…So far, they’ve been pretty strong in conference play as well as being 4-0-0 at home.”
For the Owls, they appeared in the top 25 for the first time since 2021 in last week’s poll and maintained that spot through this week. Despite making a bit of history, Shukis says that it’s business as usual for Rice. “The ranking itself hasn’t changed much. I think this team has known that they’re very good on both sides of the ball,” he said.
The Rice offense runs through graduate transfer Leah Chancey, who has had a phenomenal season thus far. She leads the nation in points per game at 2.4, where goals are worth two points and assists are worth one point. Chancey is also in the top 10 in both assists and goals this season with eight of each.
As for the other side of the ball, junior keeper Kirsten Ruf has been a standout player. “This year, she moved into the goalkeeping role, but she’s been really, really spectacular so far…She’s a really good leader for the team on the defensive side of the ball, so she’s holding it together in that regard and just looks really confident in the box, despite being newer to the position,” Shukis said.
Being on the road will prove to be a tough challenge for the Tigers in a game that is crucial for both teams to keep pace in The American. Memphis and Rice are in a three-way tie with UTSA for first in the conference, so the winner will likely separate themselves in the standings headed down the stretch of the regular season.
Memphis and Rice will kick off from Houston at 11:00 a.m. CT on Sunday. The game will also be streamed on ESPN+.
