Baylor Soccer drops season opener to Minnesota 1-0
Baylor Soccer dropped their season opener on the road to the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
The Bears struggled to settle into this contest early on, and Minnesota made them pay.
With only five minutes gone in the first half, Baylor keeper Jennifer Wandt came off her line to stop a breakaway, but the rebound fell straight to Gopher midfielder Sophia Boman. She slotted the ball into the bottom left corner of the Bears' goal.
This left the green and gold chasing the game for the rest of the half.
Minnesota’s pressing caused Baylor some problems in establishing possession. Once they could establish it however Baylor started looking dangerous.
With the first period halfway over, coach Jobson subbed sophomore forward Mackenzie Anthony and junior forward Elizabeth Kooiman on. These subs helped pin Minnesota back and keep Baylor on the front foot.
Taylor Moon started looking especially dangerous in the middle of the attack while Kooiman put in some good crosses from the right flank.
With about eight minutes left in the half, Moon drove down the left side and chipped a shot in from about 25 yards out. Minnesota’s keeper was beaten but the ball couldn’t quite squeeze under the crossbar.
The Bears kept up the pressure but couldn’t find the end product, going into the locker room at halftime down 1-0. They outshot the Gophers 7-6 but had fewer shots on goal (2-3).
After the break, Baylor kept up their pressure, racking up 11 total shots for the game.
Sophomore midfielder Chloe Japic, who can really do a bit of everything for the Bears, put in a lot of dangerous crosses and ran hard all half.
One Japic cross was nearly directed on goal by freshman forward Haven Terry, but she couldn’t quite get it under control to get the shot away.
Sophomore defender Sarah Hornyak also had a good showing for the green and gold tonight, highlighted by great defensive work at one end and some really promising crosses into the box at the other.
One Hornyak cross almost looked like a shot. All it needed was a glancing header from Japic to put it home, but Japic missed by inches.
Sophomore forward Mack Anthony also returned to action tonight following an injury. She made some nice turns and got some good shots off, but like the rest of the team couldn;t find the back of the net.
Taylor Moon had the final chance of the night for Baylor but placed her shot wide to the left.
Baylor will have to regroup and get into the flow of the game faster on Sunday night in Fargo, North Dakota.
One special note from tonight: Three freshmen made their competitive debut for the Bears tonight. Ava Colberg (22 Def.), Haven Terry (30 Fwd.), and Sophie Wilson (32 Fwd.) all saw time on the field tonight. Wilson went off injured in the second half and Colberg made it the full 90 minutes.
WOTM: Chloe Japic - She looked dangerous out there with good runs and promising crosses.
Up Next: @North Dakota State (Sun. 8/22 1PM)