Women's Soccer
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- brenton.saylor@rice.edu
- Phone:
- 348-6955
His influence working with the Rice goalkeepers is easy to see. A year ago he helped train sophomore Owl keeper Maya Hoyer into the 2017 Conference USA Goalkeeper of the Year. Hoyer, who entered the season having played in parts of just three games in her collegiate career, went on to post a 1.03 goals-against average and a steady .774 save percentage starting all 18 Rice matches. To help give his young net-minder the best chance for success, Saylor also helped coordinate the critical defensive schemes and reorganize the communication between the keepers and backline. The result was Rice went on to post eight shutouts and record the third-lowest shots-allowed-per-game in the conference (11.1 spg).
In his first year with the Owls Saylor excelled when presented with a challenging season-long task. The 2016 season welcomed Rice's newest coach with just two goalkeepers on the roster, and both were incoming freshman who had never played in a Division I game before. With Saylor training the two rookie keepers Rice went on to post a total of seven shutouts and record an .806 team save percentage. He helped train goalkeeper Samantha Colley to 2016 C-USA All-Freshman honors.
Saylor came to Rice from Mercer University where he worked the previous four seasons as the goalkeepers' coach and recruiting coordinator. His myriad duties with the Bears also included assisting with tactical preparations and scouting of opponents, as well as helping oversee the academic progress of the student-athletes.
Under Saylor in 2015 the Mercer goalkeepers posted six shutouts and tied for second in the Southern Conference for fewest goals allowed (19 in 21 matches). The Bears were third in the league with 110 saves and a 0.85 goals-against average. Saylor coached senior keeper Maggie Cropp to all-conference honors. In 2014 he coached Cropp to earning the league's tournament MVP to help the Bears win their first-ever Southern Conference title and advance to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in program history.
Prior to Mercer, Saylor was the top assistant at Eastern Kentucky from 2010-2012. In that time he also served as the Academy Director of the Madison United Soccer Association. Saylor worked a graduate assistant coach on the women's soccer team at the University of Tennessee at Martin from 2008-2010.
Before pursuing a career in coaching, Saylor was the starting goalkeeper at Lambuth University from 2004-07. During his stellar collegiate career Saylor was an honorable mention NAIA All-American, an NAIA All-Region selection and Lambuth's 2007 Male Athlete of the Year. He helped lead the Eagles to a Trans-South Conference Championship.
A native of Lincoln, Ill., Saylor earned his bachelor's degree in sports management from Lambuth in 2008 and finished his master's degree in education with an emphasis on health and human performance at UT-Martin in December of 2013. He and his wife, Allison, were married in December of 2017.
