Brielle Preece

Classroom

Brielle Preece has earned West Coast Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll “bronze” honors and Pepperdine Scholar-Athlete status in each of her first four seasons with the team. In the Fall 2017 semester, she made earned honorable mention WCC All-Academic honors. Preece has a 3.47 grade-point average in psychology and is taking additional science courses because she has future plans to attend graduate school to study physical therapy.

Character

Says Pepperdine Head Coach Tim Ward: “For three years, Brielle didn’t really get to play. Two to three weeks into her freshman year, she broke her foot, and she redshirted. Her second and third years, she had an established goalkeeper in front of her. It’s not easy to be here three years and not really play in games. We had a moment during Brielle’s third year when the third goalkeeper was outplaying Brielle. So we left Brielle behind on one trip. We explained to her that there was something more in her, and that we needed her to become the No. 1 goalkeeper we brought her in to be. She was pretty upset—not disrespectful in any way, but just upset. But that next week when we got back, that was the beginning of Brielle’s rise. She turned that into some really great training performances. And that carried into last year when it was Brielle’s turn. She hit the ground running and did such a beautiful job. She put together statistically the best season a Pepperdine goalkeeper has ever had. When Brielle had to make a save in critical moments, she came through like a champion. There’s not a girl on the team that doesn’t respect her and look up to her. She can command respect without being mean or harsh; she just has this aura of authority. She has a calmness and a certainty about her that radiates to the players in front of her.”

Community

Preece was a member of the Waves Leadership Council (Pepperdine’s version of SAAC) in 2017-2018 and was part of several community service events. Additionally, she assisted one of her teammates in putting on “Ride-A-Wave” in Malibu, which provided a day at the beach for children with disabilities who might otherwise never visit the ocean. Preece works at the Malibu Rehabilitation Clinic as she prepares for a career in physical therapy, and she has worked in the summer at the Malibu Soccer Academy, which puts on soccer camps for children.

Competition

Preece played sparingly her first three years at Pepperdine (one of which was spent as an injury redshirt) behind a four-year starter. When Preece had the opportunity to take over as the starting goalkeeper as a 2017 redshirt junior, she made the most of it, being named the West Coast Conference’s Goalkeeper of the Year and to the United Soccer Coaches All-West Region Second Team and the All-WCC First Team. She set Pepperdine’s single-season records for goals-against average (0.42), shutouts (14) and save percentage (.873) while ending the year ranked third in the nation in shutouts and seventh in goals-against average. She helped Pepperdine to a 15-3-3 record, the WCC title, a spot in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and a final national ranking of No. 16. Preece has been a member of three NCAA Tournament teams (2014, 2016, 2017) and two WCC title teams (2016, 2017). Before the 2018 season, she was named to the Preseason All-WCC Team.