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Baylor Soccer

Big 12 Soccer Roundup | Weeks 2-3

September 8, 2021
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The Bears seem like they could be turning a corner as conference play nears. Let’s take a look around the conference to see how the competition is shaping up.

Let’s start with the favorites to win the conference: #6 TCU and #18 West Virginia.

Big 12 Conference
Conference standings as of Tuesday, September 7th.

The Horned Frogs have stayed undefeated all year, coming in at 5-0-0 with wins over #20 Pittsburgh and Texas A&M who received the most votes for any team not ranked this week.

They have only been scored on once all year (by the Aggies), and their last non-conference games are at Alabama, at Ohio State (RV), and hosting #13 Pepperdine.

This past week TCU senior defender Brandi Peterson took home her second defender of the week award from the Big 12 this season, and teammate Grace Collins took home the award for the attacker of the week, her first weekly award this year.

Big 12 Conference
United Soccer Coaches poll 9/7/21

The Mountaineers have not been perfect, but they have fought hard against great competition.

Their two losses have come to #3 Virginia (0-1) and #14 Penn State (0-2), so their dip in the rankings should not be misconstrued. They are a strong 3-2.

Last week Mountaineer senior defender Jordan Brewster won the Big 12 defender of the week, and she will need to be on top of her game in the next couple of weeks. West Virginia finishes their non-conference slate with #24 Georgetown, St. Francis, at James Madison, and Kent State.


Texas Tech and Oklahoma State fall into the next tier of teams in the conference, and both have had solid starts to the year.

The Red Raiders find themselves ranked after beating Cal State Fullerton 2-1 and UTSA 3-0 to reach 5-0-1. They have only surrendered two goals all year could push the top contenders for the conference crown.

Tech closes non-conference with their first two power 5 matchups, at Arizona and Arizona State (RV), before ending with Eastern Washington.


The Pokes in Stillwater have had a tougher schedule than the Raiders so far losing to #20 Pittsburgh as well as Brown. They also beat conference foe Oklahoma in a non-conference game earlier this year.

Week 2 Thu/Fri Games

Looking forward, their schedule does not lighten up. The Cowgirls take a trip to Dallas to face a tough SMU team before hosting Texas A&M (RV). Omaha and Weber State round out their non-con slate before hosting your Baylor to open their Big 12 schedule.

If Oklahoma State wants to push back higher the rankings, the keeper Evie Vitali needs to keep playing at a high level. She took home the Big 12 freshman of the week award from week 2.


Big 12 Conference
Week 2 Sunday Games

Kansas State has been off to a hot start this year, sitting at 4-2, with a Purdue, Indiana, and UTRGV sitting between them and their conference opener with Texas.

The two schools from the Hoosier state will be the Wildcats' only non-Big 12 power 5 matchups for the regular season. Something tells me that they will be closer to 0.500 by the time the Longhorns come to Manhattan.


Their rivals the Jayhawks should be in better shape than them, however. Kansas is 3-2-1 including a 1-0 win over Iowa and a close 1-0 loss to Wisconsin. Their keeper Sarah Peters also claimed the keeper of the week award from the conference for week 2.

Looking ahead, the Jayhawks host Cincinnati and Washington State before a trip out east to visit Dartmouth and Harvard.


Week 2 Thu/Fri Games

The Oklahoma Sooners are another team sitting just above 0.500 at 3-2-1. Their losses have

come to solid teams in Houston and Oklahoma State. They drew with North Texas 2-2 this past Sunday and beat Nebraska 1-0 in OT the week before.

The Sooners have a tough finish to non-conference games with North Carolina State, at #3 Virginia, Utah Valley, and at SMU.


Big 12 Conference
Week 3 Sunday Games

The Longhorns have been a bit more disappointing in their 2021 campaign so far, but they have

really tested themselves. Losses to #17 UCF and #24 Georgetown as well as ties with Florida and Rice (RV).

Things ease up a bit for the Horns with Oregon visiting Austin before they swing through Waco. Plus UTRGV, Samford, and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

The horns also had the week 3 Big 12 keeper of the week and freshman of the week in Savannah Madden and Lexi Missimo respectively.


Lastly, Iowa State hasn’t had the toughest non-conference schedule going 2-3 against UC Santa Barbara (W), Cal State Northridge, Iowa, Drake and SIUE (W).

Their schedule gets tougher with #15 Memphis, Creighton and South Dakota before opening Big 12 play in Morgantown.


Baylor, in its own right, has had one of the tougher non-conference schedules in the conference and will face Oregon on Sunday before finishing out with SFA and San Francisco next week.

Based on these results, I’d say Baylor is firmly in the third tier of the Big 12 with every chance of fighting their way up. 

TCU and WVU are tier 1. Texas Tech and Oklahoma State are tier 2. From here it gets tough, but Baylor, Kansas, and Texas look to be the next best. The rest fall a bit further and I’d put them in a fourth tier.

It’s been good to see the Bears start turning a corner here in the last few games to solidify themselves in tier 3.


Heading forward, look out for these conference roundups every couple of weeks through the season.

 
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Big 12 Soccer Roundup | Weeks 2-3

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