Rice University
McNeese
Soccer Opens Season Thursday At McNeese
2/3/2021 2:19:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Start Time Set For 3 PM
LIVE STATS (this feature activates at game time)
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.
THIS WEEK: The Rice soccer team opens the 2020-21 season on Thursday (Feb. 4) on the road at McNeese. Start time in Lake Charles, La., is slated for 3 pm at the Cowgirl's Soccer Field. The Owls are then back home to host crosstown foe Houston Baptist on Feb. 7 (Sunday). Start time against the Huskies is set for 1 pm at Holloway Field. Note the 1 pm start is an updated time from some earlier listings. Rice Athletics is currently working with the University's Crisis Management Team on potential seating layouts to accommodate some level of attendance for future matches, and will communicate those plans to our season ticket members and the public at the appropriate time.
QUICK ON THE OWLS (0-0-0): 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.
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 the 2020-21 campaign with a career record of 297-194-58. 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.
C-USA PRESEASON ACCOLADES: IRVING, Texas – Led by the duo of Mijke Roelfsema 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.
RECENT EXHIBITION: The Owls played a preseason exhibition prior to Thursday's official opener at McNeese. On Jan. 30 (Saturday), crosstown rival Houston scored off a corner kick in the 16th minute and then hung on for a 1-0 preseason win over the Blue & Gray at Holloway.
RICE IN OPENERS: Since starting the soccer program in 2001, Rice is 6-11-2 in season-openers. In 2019 new coach Brian Lee won his Rice debut on the road at Oral Roberts 2-1. Even with that victory Rice has won only two season-openers since 2008.
THE RICE-McNEESE SERIES: Rice and McNeese have met in soccer four times with the Owls holding a 3-0-1 advantage in the series. The Blue & Gray claimed a 2-0 win in Lake Charles in 2012, and forced a 2-2 double-overtime tie at Cowgirl Field in the first meeting between the teams in 2007.
DID YOU KNOW?: Conference USA is splitting into two divisions this spring, East and West, but it is not the first time the league has done so. C-USA featured a two-division alignment as recently as 2013.
CITY SHOWDOWN, PART I OF IV: This spring Rice is scheduled to play city foes Houston Baptist (Sunday), the University of Houston and Texas Southern. Coach Lee classifies each of these respective crosstown showdowns as a "Neighborhood Derby."
