IRVING, Texas – Baylor soccer sophomore forward Lauren Piercy was named to the 11-person 2016 Preseason All-Big 12 Team, the league announced Thursday.
Voted on by the league’s coaches, the preseason honor is BU’s 11th in program history and gives the Bears four straight seasons with at least one player on the list. The Armarillo, Texas, native is the lone underclassman among the group and first BU underclassman to garner the accolade since Bri Campos in 2013.
Piercy had a breakout rookie season as she was named 2015 Co-Big 12 Freshman of the Year, giving Baylor its first-ever individual player end-of-season award from the league. She was also named second-team All-Big 12 and to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team after leading BU in goals (6), game-winners (4) and ranking second in points (13). Her game-winning goal total ranked tied for seventh on BU’s all-time single-season list, tied for 11th on the career list and tied for second-most as a freshman in program history. Her goal total was sixth-most by a BU freshman. Piercy’s four-game goal streak in 2015 ranked tied for the fourth-longest streak in program history.
Baylor is coming off a 9-6-4 (4-1-2 Big 12, second place) campaign in 2015 in which its season ended in the semifinals at the Big 12 Championship. Baylor returns 22 players, including eight starters, while welcoming nine newcomers for the 2016 season. BU began preseason camp on Aug. 2 and hosts exhibition matches against the Houston Dash on Thursday at 6 p.m. CT and Houston Baptist on Saturday at 7 p.m. Baylor’s season opener is on Aug. 19 at Detroit Mercy.
