DALLAS – No. 22-ranked Rice, the 2020 Conference USA Women’s Soccer champion, and Florida Atlantic have been selected as the 2021 preseason division favorites by the league’s 14 head coaches. Southern Miss graduate student forward
Ariel Diaz was picked as the C-USA Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, while Rice senior defender
Mijke Roelfsema was tabbed as the league’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
Last season, the Owls claimed the championship at home by beating Charlotte 2-0 in the title game for Rice’s third C-USA title. Rice finished 14-2-1 overall and beat Furman and No. 5 West Virginia to advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. Florida Atlantic went 4-1-1 in C-USA play to finish one point behind WKU for the East Division title. Florida Atlantic finished 5-4-2 overall.
For the second straight season, C-USA will have a two-division setup (East and West). Florida Atlantic was selected as the East Division favorite for the season straight season, and Rice was chosen by the coaches to win the West Division. New this season is a 10-team conference tournament, with the top five teams in each division by points advancing to the C-USA Championship, hosted by Florida Atlantic from November 1-7 in Boca Raton, Fla.
As a senior last season, Diaz was Conference USA’s Offensive Player of the Year after she scored five goals and averaged 0.45 goals and 0.91 points per game in 11 games played. The Lubbock, Texas native was a first-team All-Conference USA selection and was twice selected as the league’s Offensive Player of the Week.
Roelfsema was C-USA’s Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-Conference USA choice last season for the Owls. She earned the Defensive MVP award of the 2020 C-USA Championship after she led a Rice defense that did not allow a goal in three games on the way to the tournament title. She was a first-team All-America choice by the United Soccer Coaches. The native of Den Haag, The Netherlands was also a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy. Additionally, she was a first-team All-America selection by Top Drawer Soccer, a second-team All-America selection by College Soccer News, a first-team All-South Region choice by the United Soccer Coaches and a first-team Scholar All-America by the United Soccer Coaches. Roelfsema also earned a spot on the C-USA Women’s Soccer All-Academic second team.
The league’s 2021 season kicks off Thursday, August 19.
2021 C-USA Women's Soccer Preseason Team
Julia Patrum, Charlotte, Jr., MF/F
Gi Krstec, Florida Atlantic, R-Jr., MF
Peyton DePriest, Middle Tennessee, Sr., F
Allie Byrd, North Texas, Jr., F
Brooke Lampe, North Texas, Gr., D
Ece Turkoglu, Old Dominion, Jr., MF
Bella Kilgore, Rice, Jr., GK
Mijke Roelfsema, Rice, Sr., D
Delaney Schultz, Rice, Jr., MF
Ariel Diaz, Southern Miss, Gr., F
Avery Jacobsen, WKU, Gr., D
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year
Ariel Diaz, Southern Miss, Gr., F
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year
Mijke Roelfsema, Rice, Sr., D
2021 C-USA Women’s Soccer Preseason Poll
East Division
1. Florida Atlantic (3)
T2. Charlotte (5)
T2. WKU (5)
4. Old Dominion (1)
5. Middle Tennessee
6. FIU
7. Marshall
West Division
1. Rice (12)
2. North Texas (2)
3. Southern Miss
4. UAB
5. UTEP
6. UTSA
7. Louisiana Tech
(Division first-place votes in parenthesis)