Huskers Soar Past Owls, 3-1

Lincoln - The Nebraska soccer team scored three unanswered goals in a 20-minute span to erase an early 1-0 deficit and cruise to a 3-1 victory over Rice at the Nebraska Soccer Field on Sunday.

The win, which came in front of 457 fans at the Nebraska Soccer Field, improved NU's record to 4-2-0 on the season, while Rice dropped to 4-2-0. Head Coach John Walker was pleased with the effort of his team in the victory.

"The effort today was similar to Friday, but we finished better today," Walker said. "We got a lot better contribution off the bench. I'm happy with the effort and the young players getting more playing time."

Rice jumped out to an early lead when Samantha Conn took a pass from Maria Fadool and sent a shot on goal from the edge of the box. NU junior goalkeeper Katie Wright dove to her left and deflected the ball, but Conn's shot still found the back of the net to put the Owls up 1-0 at 22:08.

The Huskers answered back with a pair of goals off free kicks to take a 2-1 lead into intermission. After a Rice foul, junior Brittany Timko launched a beautiful free kick from nearly midfield and found Andrews in the box, who headed it past Owl goalkeeper Adriene Giese to tie the game at 1-1.

The two teamed up for another goal off a free kick 10:08 later. Timko again found Andrews in the box, where she was able to re-direct the ball toward goal. The ball then caromed off the post and into the back of net for what proved to be Andrews' team-leading second game-winning goal of the season. The goal also capped the first multi-goal game of Andrews' career.

NU secured its fourth victory of the season when a pair of freshmen connected on a goal in the 52nd minute. Aysha Jamani sent a perfect cross into the middle of the box from the far side of the field and Selenia Iacchelli was there for a brilliant finish to lift Nebraska to the final 3-1 margin. The goal was the first of Iacchelli's career and the assist was the first of Jamani's career.

For the game, NU outshot Rice, 18-7, and enjoyed a 6-3 shots-on-goal advantage. Freshman Lauren Isenhower made the first start of her career in the win and nearly contributed to the scoring when she sent a perfect cross to Timko, whose header was snared by a diving Giese.

In net for the Huskers, Wright made two saves while playing all 90 minutes. Giese recorded three saves for Rice while allowing all three Nebraska goals.

In the game, Timko notched her fourth game-winning assist of the season and increased her career total to 10. She is now tied with Sharolta Nonen for second on the NU career chart. Timko's four game-winning assists this season are also just two shy of her own school record of six, set last season.

By preserving their 2-1 halftime lead, the Huskers improved to 4-0-0 this year when leading at the half and a remarkable 151-2-2 all-time when leading at intermission.

NU travels away from Lincoln for only the second time next weekend, traveling to Purdue for a 4 p.m. match on Friday, before returning home to host UC Irvine on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Nebraska Soccer Field.