Rice University
UTSA
Soccer Opens C-USA Action Sunday At UTSA
2/27/2021 12:30:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Owls Off To Best Start Since 2006
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Rice opens Conference USA league play with a road match at UTSA on Sunday (Feb. 28). Start time at Roadrunner Field in San Antonio is set for 1 pm.
QUICK ON THE OWLS (3-0-0): The 2020-21 Rice soccer team returns eight of 11 starters from last season's squad that went 10-6-3 and won a game in the Conference USA Tournament. The Owls return a total of 20 letterwinners from a year ago and welcome in a talented new recruiting class.
20th SEASON OF RICE SOCCER: It may have taken a little extra time to get here, but the 20th anniversary season of Rice Owls Soccer has arrived! After starting a full-scholarship soccer program for the first time in 2001, the fall of 2020 was expected to be the 20th anniversary season of the program. Soccer and a lot of sports around the college landscape, however, were delayed due to the world-wide illness. The NCAA is sanctioning spring soccer this semester with a national championship tournament scheduled for the end of the regular season.
OWL IN: The Owl In logo represents the continued commitment of Rice Athletics' student-athletes, coaches, and staff to come together for positive change throughout our department, campus, and world. With increased efforts in education, policy development, and action as it relates to diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice, members of the Rice Athletics community will become better equipped to ensure we can fulfill our department's desire to be a more inclusive and welcoming place. To learn more about being Owl In, visit RiceOwls.com/OwlIn.
FIRST ROAD MATCH: Rice as jumped out to a great start on the strength of playing each of its first three games at home at Holloway Field. The Owls were to open the season on the road at McNeese on Feb. 4, but that match canceled due to field conditions.
THE RICE-UTSA SERIES: Rice leads the all-time series with UTSA 10-1-0. The Owls are 4-1 vs. the Roadrunners when playing in San Antonio. Due to some odd quirks in the C-USA scheduling, the 2019 Fall match was the first time Rice had faced the Roadrunners in San Antonio in three years.
DID YOU KNOW?: From 2008-2010 Rice and UTSA met three times as non-conference opponents.
COACH'S CORNER: Rice soccer is under the direction of head coach Brian Lee, who is in his second season at the helm of the program. A 2018 finalist for National Coach of the Year and with more than 25 years of experience as a Division I head coach, Lee enters this week's action with a career record of 300-194-58. Lee's Rice coaching staff includes Megan Kinneman, Travis Curson and new volunteer assistant Lianne Mananquil. Coach Lee's video preview of this week's games is available at the above link.
LAST TIME: HOUSTON – The Rice soccer program posted its highest goal total in 15 years, an 8-0 win over visiting Texas Southern, on the way to giving Owl head coach Brian Lee the 300th victory of his collegiate career on Feb. 21. The Owls scored eight goals, the four-highest mark in program history. Junior forward Madison Kent scored three times (31', 38', 69') in a season-high 46 minutes of playing time. True freshman Catarina Albuquerque scored the first two goals of her collegiate career (14', 16') and registered an assist on Kent's first goal. Haley Kostyshyn (16'), Caleigh Boeckx (78') and Mikala Furuto (86') also found the back of the opponent's net. Rice finished the day with 37 shots, including 19 on-goal. That's the seventh-highest single game mark in program history and the most by the Owls since taking 40 shots against East Carolina in 2012. The 19 shots on-goal is the fifth-highest in program history. Rice scored eight times and Texas Southern goalkeepers finished the day making 11 saves. Kent's three-goal game is the ninth hat trick by a Rice player and the first since Nia Stalling's three scores vs. Houston in 2017. The 36 seconds between Albuquerque's and Kostyshn's goals in the 16th minute is tied for the fastest back-to-back scores by the Owls in program history.
C-USA PRESEASON ACCOLADES: IRVING, Texas – Led by the duo of Mijke Rolfsema and Delaney Schultz as preseason Conference USA honorees, the Rice soccer team was picked to finish second in the C-USA West Division in the league's head coaches' poll announced on January 26. The preseason all-conference honors and ranking were determined on a vote of the 14 C-USA head soccer coaches. It is the eighth-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 to finish first in the league's West and East Divisions, respectively.
SEC STANDOUT JOINS OWLS: Coach Lee announced the addition of SEC junior transfer Serena Pham to the Owls' roster, to be eligible for competition starting the Fall of 2021. Pham, a midfielder originally from Chantilly, Virginia, played the previous two seasons at Alabama (2019-2020). She appeared in a total of 28 matches for the Crimson Tide with 15 starting assignments. In 2019 Pham recorded the most assists by a freshman in Alabama soccer history (6). Two of her assists in 2019 were on both Tide goals in the 2-1 win at Rice on August 29. It is also worth noting the program has enjoyed great success when ACC transfer Mijke Roelfsema (originally at Boston College and now an Owl senior) joined Rice in Lee's first year at the helm of the program.
Players Mentioned
