HOUSTON -- Freshman forward Lynda Hercules netted her second career goal in No. 9 BYU's 1-0 victory over the Rice Owls on the road, Saturday.

The victory advances the Cougars to an undefeated 7-0-1 record and drops the Owls to 3-5-0. The win is BYU's third shutout victory of the 2010 season.

"This was a really tough win for us on the road," said BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood. "Rice came out and played tough against us. They (Rice) had a lot of energy, they're a very good team and definitely took us out of any rhythm we tried to get into but we did what we had to do to get the win and I'm really proud of the girls' effort tonight."

The game-winner from Hercules came off an assist from junior Auna Janis-Doria in the 43rd minute after a close first half played by both teams.

"Lynda went in, played extremely well and got the right goal in the right place for us tonight," Rockwood said.

The Cougars headed into the locker room at halftime after taking seven shots to Rice's five, and two corner kicks to Rice's three.

In the second half, BYU took three more shots on goal before the Owls could get another chance on the offensive side. BYU ended up taking 15 shots to Rice's eight with Lauren Anderson and Hercules leading the Cougars with three shots each.

Carlee Payne, Jessica Ringwood, Jennie Marshall and Kassidy Shumway all added two shots each to the team's total.

Midfielder Jessica Howard led the Owls with three shots in 67 minutes of play.

The Cougars will continue their Texas tour with a game against the University of Texas Longhorns at 7 p.m. CT on Monday. Check the BYU women's soccer schedule page for a link to live stats and live video of the match.

TWITTER - Follow each Cougars game live on Twitter by clicking HERE or visiting twitter.com/byusoccer

TEXTING GROUP - Join the BYU Women’s Soccer texting group by texting “wsoc” to 83043. Members of the group receive 2-for-1 discounts to EVERY game!

FACEBOOK - The BYU Women's Soccer team is on Facebook. Join their Page by clicking HERE or visiting facebook.com/byuwomenssoccer

VISIT - byutickets.com for single game tickets.

PROVO -- After playing five straight home games the BYU women's soccer team will now travel South to play two games in Texas this weekend, starting Saturday against Rice University and then Monday against No. 20 University of Texas. Both games are set to play at 7 p.m. CT.

The Cougars are traveling with an undefeated 6-0-1 record after their first tie of the season came against LSU on Sept. 9. The No. 9 ranking from Soccer America was released Monday and is one of the highest rankings BYU has received this early in the season.

Forward Jennie Marshall leads the Cougar offense with six goals on the year and teammate senior Kassidy Shumway has three.

Saturday's match-up will be the first time the Rice Owls and Cougars have ever played each other. The Owls are posting a 3-4-0 record this season after its most recent 1-0 loss at Oklahoma.

The No. 20 (Soccer Times) Longhorns and No. 9 Cougars are meeting Monday for the fourth time in BYU program history. Their last meeting was in the first round of the 2007 NCAA tournament when the Longhorns came away with the 2-0 victory. This season, Texas is carrying a 5-1-1 record with its most recent 4-0 shutout win coming over William & Mary.

BYU's overall road record is 119-49-18 and 2-0 this season under head coach Jennifer Rockwood.

Live stats for both games can be accessed through the BYU women's soccer schedule page and live video can also be seen for Monday's game.

TWITTER - Follow each Cougars game live on Twitter by clicking HERE or visiting twitter.com/byusoccer

TEXTING GROUP - Join the BYU Women’s Soccer texting group by texting “wsoc” to 83043. Members of the group receive 2-for-1 discounts to EVERY game!

FACEBOOK - The BYU Women's Soccer team is on Facebook. Join their Page by clicking HERE or visiting facebook.com/byuwomenssoccer

VISIT - byutickets.com for single game tickets.