But Sunday's narrow loss to the University of Houston showed much improvement by the Bearkats who fell 1-0 to Houston Baptist in the season opener Friday.

"We did a lot of good things tonight," head coach Tom Brown said. "Jenny Pence had a big-time game in goal and our defense did a good job of shutting them down. We definitely showed some progress tonight."

The Cougars, who defeated Houston Baptist 7-0 in their opening game, came into the contest with a reputation as a high scoring, attack minded team. The Cougars out-shot the Bearkats 16-8 but soaked up all the pressure UH could hand out.

"Houston has a lot of skilled plays," Brown said. "We did a good job collectively as a team closing down the spaces they were trying to creat. And Jenny made two or three big saves for us."

The Cougars' goal came in the 20^th minute when Kyle Cook was able to chip a ball back across the backline diagonally to the top of the goalie box. Adelman cut in front of a defender and was able to settle the ball and knock it in the net for her second career goal.

Houston struggled to find a rhythm, often finding themselves a touch or two away from creating a scoring opportunity. The chances came in waves during the final ten minutes as the Cougars tested Pence with a barrage of shots.

"It's early in the season and I'm always happy to earn a win but I do think we struggled tonight to find a rhythm," said head coach Susan Bush. "Sam Houston played very well and put us under pressure. I'm not going to complain too much but we have a lot to work on and our road trip starts Friday."

Hilary Ackerman forced the UH goalkeeper to make two saves and Kirby Zak and Catherine Abitua also had shots that were on goal.