The 2024 American Athletic Conference women's soccer tournament was the postseason women's soccer tournament for the American Athletic Conference held from November 4to November 10, 2024. The tournament was hosted at the Premier Sports Campus located in Lakewood Ranch, Florida.[1] The eight-team single-elimination tournament consisted of three rounds based on seeding from regular season conference play. The Memphis Tigers were the defending tournament champions.[2][3] Memphis was unable to defend its title. They reached the Final but fell to East Carolina 1–0 in overtime.[4][5] East Carolina's win was the program's first and also the first for third-year head coach Gary Higgins.[6] As tournament champions, East Carolina earned the American's automatic berth into the 2024 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament.
| 2024 American Athletic Conference women's soccer tournament | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classification | Division I | ||||
| Teams | 8 | ||||
| Matches | 7 | ||||
| Attendance | 1,284 | ||||
| Site | Premier Sports Campus Lakewood Ranch, Florida | ||||
| Champions | East Carolina (1st title) | ||||
| Winning coach | Gary Higgins (1st title) | ||||
| MVP | Annabelle Abbott (Offensive) Maeve English (Defensive) (East Carolina) | ||||
| Broadcast | ESPN+ ESPNU (Final) | ||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | T | PCT | W | L | T | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 19 Memphis † | 6 | – | 0 | – | 4 | .800 | 13 | – | 2 | – | 4 | .789 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| South Florida | 6 | – | 1 | – | 3 | .750 | 12 | – | 2 | – | 5 | .763 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| East Carolina ‡y | 5 | – | 2 | – | 3 | .650 | 10 | – | 3 | – | 7 | .675 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rice | 5 | – | 4 | – | 1 | .550 | 12 | – | 6 | – | 2 | .650 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UAB | 4 | – | 2 | – | 4 | .600 | 7 | – | 5 | – | 5 | .559 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Charlotte | 3 | – | 2 | – | 5 | .550 | 4 | – | 8 | – | 7 | .395 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| North Texas | 3 | – | 3 | – | 4 | .500 | 7 | – | 6 | – | 6 | .526 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tulsa | 3 | – | 5 | – | 2 | .400 | 7 | – | 9 | – | 4 | .450 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UTSA | 3 | – | 5 | – | 2 | .400 | 8 | – | 7 | – | 3 | .528 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Florida Atlantic | 2 | – | 6 | – | 2 | .300 | 3 | – | 11 | – | 4 | .278 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Temple | 0 | – | 10 | – | 0 | .000 | 2 | – | 17 | – | 0 | .105 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † – Conference champion ‡ – 2024 AAC Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament As of November 10, 2024 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Poll Source:American Athletic Conference | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Seeding
editThe top eight teams in the regular season earned a spot in the tournament. Teams were seeded based on their regular season conference records. A tiebreaker was required to determine the fourth and fifth seeds as Rice and UAB both finished with sixteen points in conference play. Rice earned the fourth seed by virtue of their 2–1 win over UAB on September 26. A second tiebreaker was required to determine the eighth and final seed in the tournament as Tulsa and UTSA both finished with 3–5–2 regular season records. Tulsa earned the final spot in the tournament by virtue of their 2–1 win over UTSA on October 10. USTA finished ninth and did not participate in the tournament.[7][8]
| Seed | School | Conference Record | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Memphis | 6–0–4 | 22 |
| 2 | South Florida | 6–1–3 | 21 |
| 3 | East Carolina | 5–2–3 | 18 |
| 4 | Rice | 5–4–1 | 16 |
| 5 | UAB | 4–2–4 | 16 |
| 6 | Charlotte | 3–2–5 | 14 |
| 7 | North Texas | 3–3–4 | 13 |
| 8 | Tulsa | 3–5–2 | 8 |
Bracket
edit| First Round Monda, Nov. 4 | Semifinals Thursday, Nov. 7 | Final Sunday, Nov. 10 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Memphis | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Tulsa | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Memphis | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Rice | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Rice | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | UAB | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Memphis | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | East Carolina (a.e.t.) | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | East Carolina (a.e.t.) | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Charlotte | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | East Carolina (pen.) | 1 (5) | ||||||||||||
| 2 | South Florida | 1 (3) | ||||||||||||
| 2 | South Florida | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | North Texas | 0 | ||||||||||||
Schedule
editFirst Round
edit| November 4, 2024 | #3 East Carolina | 1–0 (a.e.t.) | #6 Charlotte | Lakewood Ranch, FL |
| 11:00 a.m. EST |
|
Recap |
|
Stadium: Premier Sports Campus Attendance: 107 Referee: Melinda Homa Assistant referees: Emily Gomez Daniel Va |
| November 4, 2024 | #2 South Florida | 1–0 | #7 North Texas | Lakewood Ranch, FL |
| 2:00 p.m. EST |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Premier Sports Campus Attendance: 129 Referee: Amber O'Connor Assistant referees: Jade Mallea Carlos Morales-Lastra |
| November 4, 2024 | #4 Rice | 2–0 | #5 UAB | Lakewood Ranch, FL |
| 5:30 p.m. EST |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Premier Sports Campus Attendance: 157 Referee: Kaitlyn Trowbridge Assistant referees: Ryan Lindskog Ethan O'Hearn |
| November 4, 2024 | #1 Memphis | 4–2 | #8 Tulsa | Lakewood Ranch, FL |
| 8:15 p.m. EST |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Premier Sports Campus Attendance: 149 Referee: Matthew Miscannon Assistant referees: Preston Joyner Alexandra Platt |
Semifinals
edit| November 7, 2024 | #2 South Florida | 1–1 (a.e.t.) (3–5 p) | #3 East Carolina | Lakewood Ranch, FL |
| 4:00 p.m. EST |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Premier Sports Campus Attendance: 187 Referee: Meghan Mullen Assistant referees: Emily Gomez Alexandra Platt |
| Penalties | ||||
|
|
|||
| November 7, 2024 | #1 Memphis | 3–1 | #4 Rice | Lakewood Ranch, FL |
| 7:30 p.m. EST |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Premier Sports Campus Attendance: 236 Referee: Jennifer Dumaine Assistant referees: Jade Mallea Ryan Lindskog |
Final
edit| November 10, 2024 | #1 Memphis | 0–1 (a.e.t.) | #3 East Carolina | Lakewood Ranch, FL |
| 2:00 p.m. EST | Report |
|
Stadium: Premier Sports Campus Attendance: 319 Referee: Jaclyn Metz Assistant referees: Jade Mallea Preston Joyner |
Statistics
editGoalscorers
editThere were 17 goals scored in 7 matches, for an average of 2.43 goals per match (as of November 10, 2024).
3 goals
- Ashley Henderson – Memphis
2 goals
- Anna Sutter – South Florida
- Momo Nakao – Memphis
1 goal
- Annabelle Abbott – East Carolina
- Leah Diaz – Tulsa
- Natalie Gorji – Rice
- Kaleigh Hart – Tulsa
- Anna Hauer – Memphis
- Jules Johnston – Rice
- Elise Perron – Memphis
- Erica Roberts – East Carolina
- Sydney Schnell – East Carolina
- Sophie Zhang – Rice
All-Tournament team
editSource:[9]
| Player | Team |
|---|---|
| Anabelle Abbott* | East Carolina |
| Maeve English^ | |
| Erica Roberts | |
| Sydney Schnell | |
| Abby Sowa | |
| Anna Hauer | Memphis |
| Ashley Henderson | |
| Finley Lavin | |
| Momo Nakao | |
| Sophie Zhang | Rice |
| Anna Sutter | South Florida |
* Offensive MVP
^ Defensive MVP
References
edit- ^ "2024-25 Championships Schedule". The American Athletic Conference. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
- ^ Hilliard, Caleb (November 5, 2023). "No. 8 Tigers win third straight American Athletic Conference women's soccer championship". WATN-TV. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
- ^ "2023 American Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Championship". American Athletic Conference. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
- ^ "2024 American Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Championship". American Athletic Conference. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
- ^ Lloyd, Dugan (November 10, 2024). "ECU Women's Soccer wins Conference Championship in overtime versus top-seeded Memphis". WITN-TV. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
- ^ "2024 American Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Record Book" (PDF). theamerican.org. American Athletic Conference. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
- ^ "Seeding Set for 2024 American Women's Soccer Championship". theamerican.org. American Athletic Conference. October 31, 2024. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
- ^ "Memphis Clinches No. 1 Seed for American Women's Soccer Championship". theamerican.org. American Athletic Conference. October 27, 2024. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
- ^ "East Carolina Wins First American Women's Soccer Championship". theamerican.org. American Athletic Conference. November 10, 2024. Retrieved November 15, 2024.