Niedermeier Brace Earns Road Result for Mean Green

Thursday, October 15

Houston, TX

6 PM

University of North Texas

4-6-4, 0-3-3

Rice

4-6-5, 2-3-2

Team	1	2	Final F
North Texas	1	2	3
Rice	2	1	3

10/15/2026 8:50:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

HOUSTON – The UNT soccer team withstood a barrage of physicality on Thursday night and overcame several moments of adversity to leave Houston with a 3-3 road draw with Rice.

After a Mean Green own goal in the 77th minute seemed to maybe be the decider, junior Lily Cunningham drew a foul in the box and sent Claire Niedermeier to the spot for an equalizing penalty kick in the 83rd minute – her third converted penalty in as many tries this season and her 11th goal of the year after she scored her 10th in the 2nd minute to open the game's scoring.

Following Niedermeier's opening goal on a header off a cross from Payton Annis, Rice scored two straight to take a 2-1 lead into halftime.

UNT (4-6-4, 0-3-3) tied the game at 2-2 in the 58th minute on a goal from Beya Rosales off a free kick from Lillian Vandiver before the own goal and Niedermeier penalty rounded out the scoring.

Both teams had quality chances at the game-winner in the closing minutes, especially the Mean Green who had two sequences in the final 90 seconds that could've given them a win but Rice goalkeeper Samantha Walker stood tall in the end.

UNT was outshot 12-11 but more than half of its attempts were on goal, while Rice doubled UNT's foul total (16-8).

The Mean Green were playing without head coach John Hedlund, who missed the match due to an accumulation of five yellow cards against the coaching staff throughout the season. Midway through the second half, acting head coach Dejan Milosevic was sent off after a VAR call decided against a penalty kick.

UNT will have a week off before returning to the pitch next Thursday, Oct. 22, when they face East Carolina on the road at 6 p.m.