Delaney Schultz Named Conference USA Player and Midfielder of the Year

HOUSTON — Rice Soccer's Delaney Schultz was named the Conference USA Player and Midfielder of the Year, the league office announced Monday morning.

The 2021 C-USA soccer awards were determined by a vote of the league's 14 head coaches. In addition to Schultz's selection as Player and Midfielder of the Year and as a First Team all-conference honoree, junior goalkeeper Bella Killgore was named to the C-USA Second Team and senior defender Caleigh Page was named to the Third Team.

Schultz's First Team honor comes after earning Second Team the last two years. She becomes the first Owl to earn C-USA Player of the Year honors and the second to earn a conference Player of the Year, joining Lauren Shockley, who earned WAC Player of the Year in 2004. She also becomes the fourth Owl to earn Midfielder of the Year honors, joining Quinny Truong (2014), Samantha Chaiken (2016 and 2017) and Lianne Mananquil (2018).

Schultz leads team in goals, assists and points. She is second in the conference with nine goals and 25 points and third with seven assists, while her four game-winning goals are the best in the league. She has accounted for 64.0% of Rice's goals, scoring or assisting on 16 of the team's 25. Of her nine goals, six have tied or give Rice the lead, including two of their three overtime goals.

With 21 goals and 20 assists in her career, she became the third player in school history with 20 goals and 20 assists. During the year, she was named to TopDrawerSoccer's Midseason Top 100 players list while also being named to the Hermann Trophy Watch List.

Killgore earns All-Conference honors for the second straight year, having played every minute of the season. She leads C-USA in wins (10), save percentage (.848), saves (95) and saves per game (5.59), while placing sixth in goals against average (.944). The Houston native has recorded three shutouts while allowing just one or fewer goals in 14 of 17 games. She has twice been named the C-USA Goalkeeper of the Week, including this past week after making 14 saves, the second-most in school history, in a 1-1 tie at North Texas. Killgore has also recorded a goal and two assists, both of which came on game-winning goals.

Caleigh Page earns her first career All-Conference honor. She has started every game, playing in 96.3% of the team's minutes. She's tied for third on the team with seven points and is second on the team and tied for fifth in C-USA with a career-best five assists. The Los Altos, Calif., native scored her second career goal in the 75th minute at Houston Baptist, recording the game-winner in a 2-1 victory. Page has helped limit the opposition to 15.2 shots per game and just 6.8 shots on goal.

The Owls begin the Conference USA Tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 3, when it faces Middle Tennessee in Boca Raton, Fla. The match is scheduled for 10 a.m. on ESPN+.

All-Conference USA First Team
GK: Kasey Perry, Old Dominion
D: Brooke Lampe, North Texas
D: Emily Roberts, Old Dominion
D: Avery Jacobsen, WKU
MF: Gi Krstec, Florida Atlantic
MF: Ece Turkoglu, Old Dominion
MF: Delaney Schultz, Rice
MF: Ilana Izquierdo, Southern Miss
F: Miracle Porter, Florida Atlantic
F: Peyton DePriest, Middle Tennessee
F: Ariel Diaz, Southern Miss

All-Conference USA Second Team
GK: Bella Kilgore, Rice
D: Amanda Martin, Florida Atlantic
D: Josie Studer, Louisiana Tech
D: Kendall Kloza, UTSA
MF: Piper Biziorek, Charlotte
MF: Sam DeBien, Middle Tennessee
MF: Taylor Tufts, North Texas
MF: Ellis Patterson, UTSA
F: Lexxe Lipsey, UAB
F: Laura Zemberyova, UAB
F: Anna Sutter, UTSA

All-Conference USA Third Team
GK: Kendell Mindnich, Southern Miss
D: Kristy Campbell, Charlotte
D: Caleigh Page, Rice
D: Macie Pennington, Southern Miss
MF: Kat Gonzalez, Marshall
MF: Gry Boe Thrysoe, Old Dominion
MF: Stella Kiss, UAB
MF: Asha Zuniga, UAB
F: Morgan White, Marshall
F: Allie Byrd, North Texas
F: Carla Morich, Old Dominion
F: Katie Erwin, WKU

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