BOCA RATON, Fla. – Knowing her team needed a goal to make a difference, All-America candidate and two-time reigning Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year Martha Thomas did what she has done more often than any player in Charlotte women's soccer history. She found the back of the net, with just under three minutes left in regulation, and carried the 49ers past No. 21 Rice, 1-0 in an upset at the Conference USA Championships Quarterfinals Wednesday.
In a tightly-contested battled between the top-seeded and regular-season champion Owls and the No. 8 Niners, who are back in the tournament defending their crown from a year ago, it came down to a late score providing the slimmest of margins as Charlotte (10-8-1) handed Rice its only league defeat of the campaign, regular season or tournament and first loss since Sept.