Penn State women’s soccer star Bella Ayscue has been named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Defenders to Watch list, the association announced on Monday.

She’s the second Nittany Lion in a row to be named to the list, after Kaelyn Wolfe made it heading into the 2025 season. Wolfe is still on the team as she enters her senior season.

all eyes on 1️⃣2️⃣#WeAre | #PSWS pic.twitter.com/buqYMtjsSJ

— Penn State Women’s Soccer (@PennStateWSOC) August 3, 2026

Ayscue is fresh off an impressive year with the Nittany Lions, also competing in the United States Women’s Youth National Team system.

In 2025, she made an appearance in all 21 matches for Penn State, helping the team to just 25 goals against on the season. With the help of Ayscue, the Nittany Lions only gave up a .096 shooting percentage and just 1.19 goals against per game.

“Her reliability on the back line allowed the Nittany Lions to maintain one of the Big Ten’s strongest defensive units while also providing attacking contributions on set pieces and in the run of play,” Penn State wrote in a news release.

Ayscue also had an impact in the attacking phase, though, scoring twice and adding one assist for five points on the year. She led Penn State in shots-on-goal percentage among players with multiple attempts at .571.

Ayscue is joined by fellow Big Ten defenders such as Hailey Baumann and Kiara Gilmore from Wisconsin, and Maya Loudd from Washington.

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