IRVING, Texas (Aug. 13, 2024) – The American Athletic Conference announced its annual women's soccer Coaches Preseason Poll as well as the AAC Watch List. The University of South Florida women's soccer team was voted to finish second, including one first-place vote.
Georgia Brown,
Sadie Sider-Echenberg, and
Serita Thurton earned spots on the Watch List.
The Bulls are coming off an AAC East Division Title and a 10-6-2 record. South Florida returns 19 players from the 2023 squad with the addition of 16 newcomers.
Brown, a native of Highworth, England, earned the program's first CSC Academic All-America honor after a stellar 2023 year in the classroom and on the field. She was also a CSC Academic All-District honoree as well as an All-AAC Second Team nod. She was part of a stout back line that held two opponents to zero shots on goal for an entire 90 minutes of play. During the 2023 campaign, she tallied five goals, including the match-winner on the road against LSU. She tied a program record with four goals against Florida College, all coming off of headers. She took 15 shots, with eight shots on goal.
Sider-Echenberg, a local of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, appeared in 10 matches for USF last season, with nine starts. She recorded the match-winning goal against SMU and added a goal against Florida Atlantic. She tallied 17 shots, with eight shots being on goal.
Thurton, a native of Ajax, Ontario, Canada, is making her second-straight appearance on the Watch List. Last season, she started all 18 matches. She collected four assists, including three assists on match-winning goals. She notched 23 shots, with nine shots on goal.
Head Coach
Chris Brown begins his first season at the helm of the program on Thursday, August 15, at 7 p.m., as No. 1 Florida State comes to Tampa.
| 2024 American Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll |
| 1 |
Memphis (9) |
99 |
|
| 2 |
South Florida (1) |
91 |
|
| 3 |
East Carolina |
73 |
|
| 4 |
Charlotte (1) |
72 |
|
| 5 |
Florida Atlantic |
64 |
|
| 6 |
North Texas |
54 |
|
| 7 |
Tulsa |
46 |
|
| 8 |
UTSA |
41 |
|
| 9 |
UAB |
32 |
|
| 10 |
Rice |
21 |
|
| 11 |
Temple |
12 |
|
About South Florida Women's Soccer
Be sure to follow USF women's soccer on social media (Twitter / Instagram / Facebook) and visit GoUSFBulls.com for the most up-to-date information.
The 2024 season will be the first with Chris Brown at the helm. He spent the last 17 seasons as the associate head coach. Brown helped lead the Bulls to three AAC regular season titles, three AAC Tournament titles, and eight NCAA Tournament appearances – winning a conference title every year from 2017-21 while making five straight NCAA appearances during that period. Brown helped lead the Bulls to their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2010, a program-record 16 wins and program-best NCAA Tournament third-round appearance in 2019, both conference regular season and tournament titles in 2020, and a string of 10 straight seasons with 10 or more wins (2012-21). Brown has helped lead the Bulls to every NCAA appearance in program history, including two appearances in the second round, and three AAC Championship Game appearances.
As associate head coach, he mentored the program's first All-American and recent USF Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Evelyne Viens, who went on to earn three total All-America honors and an Olympic gold medal with the Canadian National Team at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. Goalie Sydney Martinez (2020) and forward Sydny Nasello (2020 and 2021) also earned All-America honors and were among the Bulls that have earned a total of eight AAC Offensive Player of the Year, AAC Midfielder of the Year, AAC Defensive Player of the Year or AAC Goalkeeper of the Year honors. Players he has coached hold every program's individual record and most, if not all, of the top 10 marks in every category.
– #GoBulls –
