Big 12 Soccer Roundup | Weeks 4-5
Non-conference play has wrapped up for Big 12 soccer teams, so let’s take a look around the league to see what the Bears are up against for the rest of the season.
Iowa State went 2-1 since our last Big 12 roundup, falling to Memphis 0-1, beating Creighton 1-0, and then losing to South Dakota 0-1 on Sunday. They seem to prefer low-scoring affairs and sit at 3-5-0 for the year.
West Virginia drew with #25 Georgetown 0-0 and slaughtered Saint Francis 5-0 in week three. They followed that up with victories over James Madison and Kent State both by a score of 2-1. These results saw the Mountaineers rise to #13 in the polls and finish non-conference play at 6-2-1.
Kansas thrashed Cincinnati 4-1 in week three before getting thoroughly beaten 3-0 by Washington State. On their Ivy League swing, the Jayhawks beat Dartmouth 2-1 before losing by the same score to Harvard. They are 5-4-1 heading into Big 12 play.
TCU had a good week three, topping Alabama 2-1 in overtime and breezing past Ohio State 4-1. Week four was not so kind to the Frogs as they suffered their first loss of the year to Pepperdine 1-0 at home. They fell from #5 to #8 while the then #9 Waves rose to #6 in the United Soccer Coaches poll. TCU is now 7-1, closing non-conference play with the best record in the Big 12.
Oklahoma had a rough time over the last two weeks. They lost to North Carolina State 5-0, put up a good fight to #7 Virginia in a 2-1 loss, nabbed a 4-2 win over Utah Valley but lost in Dallas to #17 SMU 1-0. The Sooners are 4-5-1 but could nab an upset here or there moving forward if they keep close and get a nice bounce.
Kansas State lost both of their matchups with Big Ten schools from the state of Indiana but are going into the conference schedule on a relatively high note thanks to their 2-0 win over UTRGV. The Wildcats are 5-4 on the year and should settle into the bottom half of the conference in league play.
Texas looks to be getting on the right track over the last two weeks. After a tough 1-0 loss to Oregon, they bounced back with three straight wins: 7-0 over UTRGV, 2-1 over Samford and 3-0 over SIUE. That winning streak brought them from 1-3-2 to 4-3-2 ahead of their Big 12 opener at Kansas State.
Longhorns freshman forward Trinity Byars took home both attacker of the week and freshman of the week honors for week five in the Big 12.
Oklahoma State is a good team on an even string of results heading into conference play. Two weeks ago, they lost 1-0 to #17 SMU in Dallas, drew with RV Texas A&M, then easily handled Omaha 3-0. The Pokes are 5-3-1 and are supposed to be one of the better teams in the Big 12 this year. Visiting Stillwater is not the easiest way for Baylor to start conference play on Thursday.
Cowgirls keeper Evie Vitali won week five’s keeper of the week as well for the conference.
Texas Tech split their matches against Arizona schools, topping the Wildcats 2-1 before losing to the #15 Sun Devils 3-2. They cruised past Eastern Washington 3-0 to reach 7-1-1 and finished what would be #29 in the polls based on votes received. On top of that, Hannah Anderson won Big 12 defender of the week for week five.
Each team now has nine games left to qualify for the conference tournament in Round Rock and boost their resume for the NCAA tournament. Placing 9th or 10th would be pretty disappointing for the Bears this year, especially since I think they could push for a top-four finish. To reach their ceiling, the green and gold will have to find a way to grab wins when games are looking like hard-fought draws.
That all starts with getting at least a point against Oklahoma State, then possibly stealing a point off of TCU. Ending week one in the Big 12 with zero points would be tough, but these are not easy games.