CARY, North Carolina – Conference USA champion and No. 22-ranked Rice used a pair of goals by Natalie Gorgi and one by Mikala Furuto to beat (RV) Furman 3-1 in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship at WakeMed Field #2.
 
Rice is unbeaten in its last 10 games (9-0-1) overall.

Final Stats
 
The victory by the Owls (13-2-1) advances Rice to the second round Saturday against No. 5-ranked and No. 5 national seed West Virginia (10-2-1). The game will kick off at 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT at WakeMed Field #2 in Cary. The winner of Rice-West Virginia will advance to the third round on May 5.
 
In the first half, the Paladins (7-1-2) took a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute when Kyndal Anderson collected a pass from Nieva Gaither near the top of the 18-yard box between two defenders. Anderson slipped a low shot past Rice goalkeeper Bella Killgore for her fifth goal of the season.
 
Rice tied the game 1-1 in the 25th minute. Caleigh Page launched a long throw-in that Gorgi headed into the top of the Furman net for her second goal of the season.
 
Page struck again in the 37th minute, this time off a pass from Delaney Schultz that put Page in position between a pair of Paladin defenders, and her shot found the net past Furman goalkeeper Addison Corn for a 2-1 Owls advantage.
 
Rice put the game out of reach in the 66th minute when Schultz slid a pass to Furuto. Corn came up to cut off the angle, but Furuto buried her shot for her sixth goal of the season from Schultz’ second assist of the game.
 
Rice outshot the Paladins 22-6, including 8-3 in shots on goal. Rice also had an 8-0 advantage in corner kicks in the game, Killgore made two saves for the Owls, while Corn had five saves for Furman.
 
Rice’s victory was the first for a Conference USA school in the NCAA Championship since 2011.