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Rice Soccer: Outgoing seniors leave big roles to fill

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The outgoing senior class steered Rice soccer through a year of transition, setting the Owls up for a future of sustained success under Brian Lee.

The Rice soccer senior class did so much more for the program than fill out the roster. Those women served as the clue for a group of players in the midst of a coaching transition. No matter how talented a team in any sport, change at the top can be challenging to navigate. The Owls didn’t seem to miss a beat. Head coach Brian Lee credits the seniors for making that possible.

“Lianne [Mananquil], Erin [Mikeska], Maya [Hoyer] and Louise [Stephens] are four of the strongest leaders I’ve ever coached in 25 years of doing this,” Lee said, acknowledging how challenging they will be to replace next season.

The Roost Podcast: Listen now to our Extended Offseason Interview Series

Mananquil, Stephens and Mikeska each finished in the top four in points for the Owls this season. Hoyer was part of an effective tagteam with Bella Killgore at goal keeper. Using two keepers might not be Lee’s default going forward, but he couldn’t remove Hoyer or Killgore from the field entirely. “I felt like we had two goal keepers who would have started for at least 10 or 12 of the 14 SEC teams,” he declared.

Fortunately, the Owls will have Killgore to lean on at keeper next season. Up front, the next senior class will be waiting to take up the mantle. Haley Kostyshyn and Mijke Roelfsema are both coming off tremendous seasons. Lee also highlighted the growth of Trinity King who’s role grew as the 2019 season progressed.

Those are strong pieces. Lee hopes they can rise to the occasion. In his eyes, the outgoing senior class “made our transition for our entire staff so much easier…  They were a dream. If every class at Rice is like those kids I’m going to have a great rest of my coaching career.”

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Brian Lee remains confident move to Rice soccer will bear fruit

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Rice soccer has a new head coach with big plans. How Brian Lee’s own expectations hope to drive the Owls’ program to new heights.

One year ago Brian Lee made a career-altering decision. After leading LSU to six NCAA Tournaments and four division titles he decided to accept the Rice soccer head coaching job. Trading the SEC for Conference USA wasn’t solely a leap of faith. Lee describes it as a calculated decision.

“A theory I’ve always had about college women’s soccer is the very best jobs are at the prestigious academic institutions,” he reasoned. “Because of the demographics of our recruiting base and the lack of a professional league of note makes the elite academic schools the ones the kids want to go play at.”

Lee pointed to programs like Georgetown and Stanford. Both are academic powerhouses that have become mainstays at the highest levels of the sport. From admissions requirements to scheduling capabilities, there’s no reason Rice can’t mirror how those programs have been built. At least, that’s the theory.

Lee believed in that premise so much he moved on from a decade-long stint in Baton Rouge to build a new legacy at South Main.  The Owls went 10-6-3 in Lee’s first season, losing in the conference tournament to North Texas on their own field after tying the Mean Green in Houston the week prior.

The solid start was achieved, primarily, with players he inherited. The team won’t fully have his imprint for another two seasons. Women’s college soccer typically takes commitments two to three years out from their arrival on campus.

Rice made one new addition to the roster in Lee’s first season, signing Boston College transfer Mijke Roelfsema. She was instrumental to the Owls’ success this season, buying into the program Lee was striving to create.

The Roost Podcast: Listen now to our Extended Offseason Interview Series

More and more of Lee’s handpicked recruits will be added in the seasons to come. Already equipped with what he believes is a talented roster, his own expectations continue to rise. “The program, really over the course of history, has been at the very least, solid,” he said. Lee then went on to issue his own expectation.

“The top end of what we can develop the program into over the next three, four, five years is very high. I think we’re headed to having a Top 20 program.” He knows that’s a tall order, but he also knows how to get there.

In one season, Lee turned a seven-win team into a 10-win team. He’s continuing to recruit and develop talent. As he expected when he took the job, things are headed in the right direction.

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Rice Swimming: Owls chart course for greater consistency

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Rice swimming isn’t too far removed from regaining a spot atop Conference USA. Head coach Seth Huston knows the Owls are close to breaking through.

Every second matters in swimming. The slightest deviation from the optimal course, whether in an individual event or a training regiment, can change a result — or a season. That’s why Rice swimming head coach Seth Huston doesn’t obsess over individual results when plotting the course for his team’s future.

“I try not to get too caught up in like, hard, goals, like win conference or something like that,” Houston says, pointing instead toward the process inputs rather than the outputs. Like many coaches at Rice, his default mode is controlling the controllable.

Mere seconds separated Rice from FIU at the Conference USA Championship Meet. Things that don’t typically happen — a slow start or a bad transition — happened. That doesn’t mean he’s throwing out the process because of the results.

The Roost Podcast: Listen now to our Extended Offseason Interview Series

Instead, Huston says he aims to teach his swimmers how to live in the moment. “If you’re in the moment, you’re minimizing your distractions, you’re probably going to be performing at about as high a level as you can at that point in time.”

Finding that place takes practice. But it’s achievable. And it isn’t dependent on what’s happening in the lane next to you.

“If you learn how to be in that place all the time. And your body is rested, and you’re ready to perform at a peak. And you’re in the moment, and you’ve got all the other distractions set aside, you’re gonna perform at a really high level,” Huston said, almost as if the philosophy were an iron-clad rule, an expectation.

If each swimmer can do that, can be ready when they step onto the block, Rice swimming will have a chance to win each race and each meet.

The Owls have the athletes to be true contenders no matter the scale of the competition. They work hard and are diligent when it comes to perfecting their craft. They’re doing the right things. The results will follow.

Huston remains steadfast. “One day it will go our way,” he declared. After winning multiple conference titles, overseeing countless school records being broken and sending several Owls to the Olympic trials, Huston has proven the process works. All that’s left is for his team to get back in the pool and keep swimming.

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Rice Swimming: Marta Cano-Minarro surges toward success

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The Rice swimming season was cut short. Still, the impression Marta Cano-Minarro made in a shortened campaign made waves at South Main.

Marta Cano-Minarro burst onto the Rice Swimming scene as a freshman in 2018. Her debut season was spectacular. She set the school record in the 200 IM. She won multiple CSCAA and C-USA Championships and was the anchor in three program-record-setting relay teams.

Her rapid ascent wasn’t unexpected. Prior to her arrival at Rice, Cano-Minarro competed in the FINA Junior World Swimming Championships where she finished Top 15 in the 200 Free. She also swam in the European Games, finishing sixth in the 200 Free.

The Roost Podcast: Listen now to our Extended Offseason Interview Series

Rice swimming coach Set Huston said athletes like her “make the coach look pretty good”. He gave all the credit to Cano-Minnaro. Hutson cited her relentless pursuit to better herself and a work ethic commensurate with her own expectations, which are lofty.

Huston said Cano-Minarro “has big goals”, some of which she was able to achieve this past season. She won the 200 IM and 200 Free at the Conference USA Championships where she was named Co-Swimmer of the Meet. Soon after the season would end and she would be dubbed Conference-USA’s Co-Swimmer of the Year.

Cano-Minarro led the Owls in points at the conference championship, placing in the top three in seven different events, including four relays. Along the way, she set several personal bests as she continues to improve.

If the first two years of her collegiate career offer any indication, the best of Cano-Minarro could still be to come. That’s something that she and Rice swimming eagerly look forward to. The sooner she can get back in the pool, the sooner the rest of the world will see.

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Rice Swimming: Next wave of swimmers ready to step up

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The next wave of Rice swimming contributors are ready to rise to the occasion. Coach New opportunities await several underclassmen with new roles opening next season.

Rice swimming will lose a strong core of senior leaders when they return to the pool next season. As valuable as those seniors were in action, part of their legacy will be the impact they made on those to follow. The Owls have a host of up-and-coming swimmers ready to fill their shoes, several of which made splashes of their own this season.

Many freshmen experience an adjustment period when they first arrive on campus. The rigors of the academic load alongside the athletic requirements make it challenging to expect many newcomers to bear too much of the load too quickly. But there are always a few who earn the right for a bigger role through their own efforts.

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One such rising underclassmen was Maddie Howe. The true freshman wasn’t feeling well during the Conference USA Championship. Even though she was under the weather, she snuck into the finals for the 100-Fly.

Howe swam from the eighth and final lane in the championship swim. Not only she Howe medal, she won the event from the outermost lane, a rarity in swimming and a testament to Howe’s grit and perseverance.

Howe is one of several swimmers who could see her role increase in the near future. Becca Evans put together a strong sophomore campaign. Freshmen like  Shannon Campbell and Sini Koivu had strong finishes as the C-USA Championship. C-USA Co-Swimmer of the Year Marta Cano-Minarro was stellar.

And that doesn’t account for a crop of junior swimmers who have already ascended into crucial roles.

Head coach Seth Huston is excited to get back in the pool and let his swimmers get to work. “We’ll just talk about opportunity,” he said. “What opportunities are presenting themselves in your new role with one more year under your belt?” With that challenge presented, it will be up to each individual to work and earn their chance to broaden their role.

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