Eight American Athletic Conference women's soccer programs opened the 2021 campaign Thursday, August 19, with five picking up victories.

Thursday, August 19
UCF 4, Texas 0 - Box Score
Cincinnati 2, Northern Kentucky 1 - Box Score
South Florida 2, Florida 1 - Box Score
Memphis 4, SE Missouri State 0 - Box Score
Houston 3, Oklahoma 1 - Box Score
Pitt 3, Tulsa 0 - Box Score
Maryland 3, Temple 0 - Box Score
Old Dominion 2, East Carolina 1 - Box Score

UCF 4, Texas 0 - Box Score
ORLANDO, Fla. – In the first match of the new campaign, the UCF women's soccer team earned a statement victory over Texas in a 4-0 performance at the UCF Soccer Complex on Thursday night.
 
The Knights jumped out to an early 1-0 lead just 80 seconds into the match, as Kristen Scott collected a long pass from Darya Rajaee and slotted her first shot of the match past the Texas keeper.
 
The Black and Gold never let up, as Maggie Jenkins earned a penalty kick just past the 40-minute mark in the match. Darya Rajaee stepped up to the spot and buried her shot in the upper right-hand corner of the net to extend the lead to two goals. Just before halftime, Kristen Scott earned a brace after collecting a through ball from Maggie Jenkins and burying it in the back of the net.
 
Keeping the pressure on in the second half, Mallory Olsson also netted her first goal of the year, cleaning up a saved shot from Anna Henderson, closing the door on the match at 4-0 in the 74th minute.

Cincinnati 2, Northern Kentucky 1 - Box Score
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. -- After an emotional offseason, nobody could write Thursday's season-opening script any better.
 
Vanessa DiNardo, who this offseason changed her number to memorialize former Bearcats teammate Ally Sidloski, scored on a point-blank header in the 10th minute for Cincinnati's first goal of the season. Two minutes later, sophomore Lauren Bastian scored with a straightaway strike, and the Bearcats would ultimately defeat NKU, 2-1.
 
It also marked the 400th win in program history and fifth win over the last six season openers.
 
DiNardo's goal was the second of two UC header attempts. Kendall Battle's initial try, off a corner kick from Karli Royer, was saved. Royer was again the source for Bastian's time to shine, as her free kick was deflected by NKU before Bastian fired away from the 18-yard box.

The Norse got on the board via a penalty kick in the 72nd minute. The Bearcats were called for a penalty as a corner kick sailed to the box.

South Florida 2, Florida 1 - Box Score
TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 19, 2021 – The University of South Florida women's soccer team started off its 2021 season with a win, defeating the Florida Gators, 2-1, in front of nearly 2,000 fans. An offensive surge from the Bulls kept Florida in its defending half for nearly 45 percent of the game, launching 20 shots at the Gators goal.
 
Chloe Zamiela and Madeleine Penman-Derstine both scored their first goals as Bulls in the win. South Florida (1-0-0, 0-0-0 AAC) had eight players combine for 15 shots on goal during the game.
 
Neither side could find the back of the net in the opening 30 minutes, although the Bulls had a 3-2 advantage in shots on goal while both goalkeepers, Florida's Alexa Goldberg and USF's Sydney Martinez, made impressive saves.
 
After nearly 10 minutes of consistent offensive pressure, the Bulls opened the scoring in the 40th minute, with Zamiela slipping a shot past the Florida keeper after a volley of USF shots led to a bouncing ball in front of the net.
 
Florida tied the game quickly after the break. Kit Loferski chipped a shot over the head of Martinez and into the goal, evening the score at 1-1.
 
Less than four minutes later, South Florida retook the lead. Freshman Penman-Derstine blasted a shot that kissed the crossbar and bounced into the net. Sydny Nasello and Paula Leblic earned the assists on the goal.

Memphis 4, SE Missouri State 0 - Box Score
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Memphis women's soccer team opened the season with a bang as they secured their first win of the 2021 season with a 4-0 victory over Southeast Missouri State.
 
The Tigers opened the match hot to take an early 3-0 lead over the Redhawks. Saorla Miller scored the first goal of the season off a pass from Claire Abrey in the 10' while Jocelyn Alonzo notched her first collegiate goal off a one-on-one situation in the 14'.

Miller further extended Memphis' lead when she scored her second goal of the half in the 23'. The Tigers would take a 3-0 lead into the half. Miller completed a hat-trick with her third goal of the match in the 61' off a SEMO turnover to make it a 4-0 game. 

Miller notched the first hat trick in the season and home opener since the 2019 season when Clarissa Larisey scored three consecutive goals in the Tigers 6-0 win over Little Rock.

Memphis' defense held SEMO to just one shot the entire match to give the team their first shutout of the season. The Tigers offense tested the Redhawks defense with 16 shots during the 90 minutes of play with 10 of them challenging SEMO goalkeeper, Bailey Redden.

Houston 3, Oklahoma 1 - Box Score
HOUSTON – Houston Soccer kicked off the 2021 season with a 3-1 win over Oklahoma, thanks to stellar performances from its redshirt freshmen class, on Thursday night from the Carl Lewis International Complex.
 
Redshirt freshman Ava Alaniz put the Cougars (1-0) on the board with a score assisted by Caitlyn Matthews in the 18th minute. Houston then followed that with back-to-back goals in the second half.
 
The first half concluded with Oklahoma (0-1) tying the score 1-1 with a goal by Cailey England, assisted by Bri Amos. Heading into the second half, the Cougars were tied with the Sooners with five shots each; however, Houston had four corner kicks to Oklahoma's two.
 
The second half was huge for the Cougars with two goals to bring the score to 3-1. Early in the 64th minute, Redshirt freshman Adriana Hutson delivered a goal with the assist by fellow redshirt freshman Nadia Kamassah. Quickly after the second goal was posted, redshirt freshman Cordelia "CC" Cross shot an unassisted breakaway third Cougars' goal. Houston was able to shut out Oklahoma the rest of the second period to grab its first win of the season.

Pitt 3, Tulsa 0 - Box Score
The Tulsa women's soccer team dropped a 3-0 decision to Pittsburgh on Thursday night in the BancFirst Cowgirl Soccer Invitational in Stillwater, Okla.  The Golden Hurricane fell to 0-1 on the season, while the Panthers moved to 1-0 overall.
 
Pitt scored two early goals, including one by Ellie Coffield in the 17th minute and the other by Amanda West in 20th minute.  The Panthers held onto that 2-0 lead at halftime.  Leah Pais added the final score at the 84:23 mark for the final 3-0 score.
 
Pitt had a 19-6 lead in shots, including a 9-2 advantage in shots on goal, and a 7-1 lead in corner kicks.
 
Mia Darden had two shots, while Kayla Fernandez  and Megan Nielsen both had one attempt.  Emma Malsy logged all 90 minutes in goal and picked up six saves.

Maryland 3, Temple 0 - Box Score
College Park, Md. – Despite a strong second half offensive effort for the Owls, the Temple women's soccer team fell to Maryland 3-0 in the season opener Thursday night at Ludwig Field.
 
After a competitive back-and-forth battle in the first 30 minutes of regulation, Terps' midfielder Lauren Sefcik was able to sneak through the Owl defense to find the back of the net for the go-ahead goal.

Maryland kept the momentum going by extending their lead just four minutes later on an opportunity inside the box. Alyssa Poarch received the ball from Kori Locksley for the one timer to put the Terps up 2-0.

While the Terps kept control of the ball, senior goalkeeper Kamryn Stablein came up big for the Owls, recording two diving saves to hold Maryland scoreless for the remainder of the first half.

Old Dominion 2, East Carolina 1 (OT) - Box Score
NORFOLK, VA. – In a hard-fought season-opener, the East Carolina soccer team dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to Old Dominion on Thursday evening. The Pirates start the season 0-1-0 while the Monarchs open 1-0-0.
 
After East Carolina took the opening kickoff, the Monarchs recovered possession and drove the ball deep into the Pirate half. The ball eventually reached Megan Watts who lined up a shot from the top of the East Carolina box. Watts's effort found the bottom left corner to open the scoring just 39 seconds into the match.
 
After the early punch from the Monarchs, East Carolina wasted little time answering back. The Pirates shifted the ball to Haley McWhirter who took on an Old Dominion defender down the right wing. McWhirter was able to find space to cross into the box to a waiting Carsen Parker. Parker lined up a low shot that was saved by Old Dominion's Kasey Perry, but the ball deflected right to Peyton Godbey who tapped home into the empty net to tie the game just 5:01 after Watts' opening marker.
 
After the opening flurry of scoring, both teams settled into a defensive battle. The Pirates had the majority of possession in the first 45 minutes, holding the ball 55% of the time, but the Monarchs finished the half outshooting ECU 9-6. Maeve English had three saves for the Pirates while Tori Riggs forced Perry into a save.
 
Still deadlocked, the two teams went to overtime. As the minutes wore on, the game began to stretch from end to end. After the Monarchs ended a Pirate move, Old Dominion quickly pushed the ball up field. The ball eventually made it to the right corner of the ECU end before a cross reached Ece Turkoglu. Turkoglu squared a pass into the middle of the Pirate box where Emma Gervase was waiting to knock home the winner.