Soccer Set For Weekend Matches In San Antonio

RICE SOCCER at UTSA Tournament (San Antonio, Texas)
Tournament Home Page
Rice vs. South Florida | Sept. 6 at 5 PM | Live Stats
Rice vs. Cleveland State | Sept. 8 at 11 AM | Live Stats
(Statistics activate at game time; No online video of Rice matches at this tournament)

THIS WEEK: The Rice soccer team plays in one of the most challenging tournaments of the young season on Friday and Sunday (Sept. 6 & 8) at UTSA's Park West Athletics Complex in San Antonio. The Owls meet national power South Florida (2-1-0) on Friday at 5 pm. The Blue & Gray then face Horizon League foe Cleveland State (2-1-1) on Sunday at 11 am.

QUICK ON THE OWLS (2-1-0): With the program's best start to a season since 2015, Rice is receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches national poll announced on Sept. 3. The Owls won the season opener on the road at Oral Roberts 2-1 (Aug. 22) before posting a convincing 3-0 victory over crosstown rival Houston (Aug. 25). On Aug. 29 SEC power Alabama scored a late goal to slip past the Blue & Gray 2-1. In 2019 the Rice soccer team returns seven of 11 starters from last season's squad that went 7-9-1 and advanced to the Conference USA Tournament. The Owls return a total of 18 letterwinners from a year ago and welcome in a talented new recruiting class. Rice is in a tough stretch of the schedule and not slated to play at home again until Sept. 15.

COACH'S CORNER: Rice soccer is under the direction of head coach Brian Lee, who is in his first season at the helm of the program. A 2018 finalist for National Coach of the Year and with 25 years of experience as a Division I head coach, Lee enters this week's games with a career record of 289-189-55. Lee's Rice coaching staff includes Megan Kinneman, Travis Curson and Allysha Chapman, all in their first year with the Owl program. Coach Lee's weekly video preview is available at the above link.

TWO NEW FOES: This space is usually reserved for Rice's series history vs. a particular opponent(s), but both South Florida and Cleveland State are foes that the Owls have never faced before. This weekend marks the first time for Rice to face two new opponents in back-to-back matches since playing at Marquette and UW-Milwaukee in 2009.

HAIL SENIORS!: Four Rice players have scored all six of the team's goals – and all of them have been seniors. Owl veterans Haley Kostyshyn, Louise Stephens, Lianne Mananquil and Erin Mikeska have led the Blue & Gray to the back of the opposing net (with Kostyshyn and Mikeska both scoring twice).

MANANQUIL ON HERMAN TROPHY WATCH LIST: Senior Lianne Mananquil is one of 61 Division I women's soccer players named to the inaugural 2019 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, presented by World Wide Technology, the United Soccer Coaches and Missouri Athletic Club announced on Aug. 1…. The MAC Hermann Trophy, presented by World Wide Technology, is the most prestigious individual award in college soccer and is presented annually to the most outstanding women's and men's players of the year. The award's respective watch lists are compiled by members of the United Soccer Coaches Men's and Women's NCAA Division I All-America Committees… A year ago Mananquil was named the Conference USA Midfielder of the Year as well as a First Team All-South Region honoree. The Jacksonville, Fla., native tied the Rice record in for assists in a single season (10) while did some scoring of her own. She netted the game-winning goal at Charlotte on the final weekend of the season to clinch Rice's spot in the C-USA Tournament. Her play on the field is only part of the story. Mananquil maintained a 3.74 grade point average to be named a Conference USA Academic Medalist and a Rice Honor Athlete. She started and played only 17 minutes in the Houston game before being sidelined for the remainder of the contest.

C-USA PRESEASON ACCOLADES: IRVING, Texas – Led by Lianne Mananquil as a preseason Conference USA selection, the Rice soccer team was picked third overall in the 2019 C-USA head coaches' poll announced on Aug. 12. The preseason all-conference honors and ranking were determined on a vote of the 14 C-USA head soccer coaches. It is the seventh-straight year for Rice to be picked to finish among the league's Top 3 teams in the annual head coaches' poll. Defending regular season co-champions North Texas and Florida Atlantic were picked first and second in the 2019 poll, respectively.

ACC STANDOUT JOINS OWLS: Coach Lee announced the addition of ACC junior transfer Mijke Roelfsema to the Owls' roster for the upcoming 2019 season. Roelfsema is a 5-8 defender from The Netherlands who played the last two seasons at Boston College. A year ago she started 15 matches and logged more than 1,300 total minutes for an Atlantic Coast Conference program that posted a 14-5-1 record and earned a Top 16 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. Where Roelfsma was a key part of swarming Golden Eagle defense that held opponents to an austere 8.5 shots per game, she also provided an attacking presence out of the backline. A year ago the native of Den Haag scored the game-winning goal against crosstown rival Boston University.

DID YOU KNOW?: Junior transfer Mijke Roeflsema, a defender from The Netherlands, has not been subbed-out of any of the team's three matches so far (270 total minutes). Three of the four Owls' with the most playing time are all defenders.

NEXT WEEK: Rice remains away from Holloway Field next week as well. After the UTSA Tournament the Owls are scheduled to face longtime rival SMU in Dallas on September 12. The Blue & Gray begin a three-game homestand on September 15 with a match vs. Pac-12 foe Oregon State.

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