Lee aims to take programfrom good to great
New Rice soccer coach Brian Lee has a history of elevating programs.
In 1994, Lee started the soccer program from the ground up at his alma mater, Furman. He led the team to the NCAA tournament four times in 11 seasons.
When he took the reins at LSU, the program had finished sixth in the Southeastern Conference with just two league wins each of the previous two seasons. In 10 years, he led LSU to six NCAA tournament appearances and four division titles.
“The Furman experience was really fun. It was very enjoyable to take a team that basically started with one scholarship and a bunch of walk- ons and to develop it in a nice, process- oriented way where you could see year-to-year growth,” Lee said.
“To be honest when we got to LSU we were kind of doing the same thing. Starting from the bottom and working our way up. Rice is starting at a much higher level but we’re trying to turn it from good to great.”
After taking the Tigers to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the third time in his career in Baton Rouge, Lee decided to leave for Rice with a dream to transform the program into a national power after former coach Nicky Adams departed for Syracuse in February.
“In collegewomen’s soccer there are huge advantages to being at an elite private school in terms of ability to recruit talent. Stanford, Duke, Southern Cal, UCLA. All of the elite academic schools are also the most attractive to recruits,” he said.
“I really think we can recruit up against anyone in the country. I really think we can develop a program that can go to the NCAA tournament every year.”
In 2019, Rice has several pieces to help climb to that level.
The team could be strong in the back and features midfielder Lianne Mananquil, who was named to the watch list for the Hermann Trophy, which goes to the best player in college soccer.
“The goalkeeping cadre is deep and we’ve got a freshman with a strong resume as well. We’ve got two experienced players who have done well when given the chance in Bella (Killgore) and Maya (Hoyer),” Lee said. “The back four we’re pretty excited about. Trinity King, when she’s healthy, is one of the best players in the league and our transfer from Boston College, Mijke Roelfsema, should be able to step in and contribute right away.
“The two key (offensive) factors to me are Lianne Mananquil and Delaney Schultz. They’re two of the most dynamic attacking players certainly in our league but shoot if they were in the SEC.”
Overall, Rice returns seven starters. The regular season begins on Aug. 22 at Oral Roberts.
“We’ve got several players who, if they so choose, could pursue a pro career after college, so there’s some talent there,” Lee said. “I think our top is really high but we’re not there yet so we have to get there.”