Baylor Soccer fights Texas to a draw in double overtime, 0-0

WACO, Texas — Baylor soccer fought to draw with the visiting Texas Longhorns Friday night with a final score of 0-0. The Bears and Horns were evenly matched on the night in many ways, with Texas outshooting Baylor 20-14 but the Bears putting more shots on goal with 8. Both teams also had reasons to find fault in the refs with one good penalty shout for each side in the game. 

Baylor now sits at 7-3-5 (3-1-2 in conference) with 1.83 points per game, still good for third in the conference. Texas stays in first with 2.33 ppg and a record of 8-3-4 (4-0-2 in conference). The #11 TCU Horned frogs jumped the Bears win the standings thanks to a big 1-0 at West Virginia and the Baylor draw.

The game started with Texas on the front foot. An early chance for the Horns came off of a low and fast cross in from the left wing, but the forward just couldn’t put her first-touch effort on goal.

After six minutes of play, Baylor found its footing and went on the attack. Taylor Moon found herself carrying the ball into the Texas 18-yard box when she was taken down by a defender in a very physical challenge. 

It was a close call, but Moon seemed to be slightly ahead of the defender and no contact was made with the ball. Based on that, I would have to say that a penalty should have been given.

It was not given, and the status quo that set in was a very back and forth game. It felt almost like the game was entirely transitional moments and either team could spring an attack at any time.

"It’s hard, it’s hard for the players,” said coach Paul Jobson, "Both teams are trying to get into a rhythm. I think both teams played well defensively to kind of disrupt rhythm. So, it can be a tough one, but I’m proud of our kids and how they were able to stay focused on our plan. “

With all of the back and forth, both defenses were stressed all night. That pressure didn’t seem to phase Baylor Freshman defender Ava Colberg one bit. She shut down Texas attacks on the wing once every couple minutes it seemed, and she perfectly balanced her physicality. 

In the 21st minute, she committed a tough foul and was nearly shown a yellow card, but she got away with a warning. Not having to worry about getting a sent off was big given the role she played in keeping the shutout tonight.

That measured play, right on the edge of being too much, shows a maturity or a veteran savvy that is uncommon for freshmen. When asked after the game if she still feels like a freshman out on the field Colberg said, “Sometimes. I feel like the girls are a lot more experienced than me and sometimes [I'm] nervous stepping out. I'm like 'Ugh, everyone's so old' but, it's definitely [an] adjustment but I feel like I'm getting used to it and getting in the rhythm of things.”

Throughout the rest of the first half, both defenses did well shutting down chances and blocking any attempted shots.

In the 38th minute, substitute Olivia Mack registered Baylor’s first shot on goal of the game and forced a decent save out of the Longhorns’ goalkeeper.

Four minutes later, Taylor moon had a shot blocked, and at the other end, Colberg and Sarah Hornyak made timely interventions to see out the half.

The second half saw some tactical shifts but the end result stayed the same. With some man-marking in defense, Hornyak was drawing into the midfield by her mark making Baylor’s formation look more like a 3-4-3 than their standard 4-3-3. 

"We didn’t get mixed up, but we had certain people on certain players, and they were trying to drag players out, so we just kept them with them, coach Jobson said, "It was more about that. and it worked in our favor because Hornyak’s a very good midfielder, so them moving players around didn’t really affect our attack. In some ways, we got a little bit stronger in the attack there.

Despite the tactical shift helping push numbers higher up the field, the Bears could not capitalize.

In the 70th minute, forward Mackenzie Anthony helped create Baylor’s best chance from open play in the game. Anthony found herself on the right side of the box with the ball and played a nice cross back in for Olivia Mack. Sadly, Mack missed the finish while under some pressure from the Texas defense.

It was a bang-bang play, but one that the Bears might look back on as a huge opportunity missed after the season ends.

As the final ten minutes of regulation approached, Texas turned up the heat on the “No-goal-patrol”. The talented trio of Byers, Missimo, and Grosso started sending more shots towards Baylor keeper Jennifer Wandt but she was up to the task. Particularly Byers and Grosso caused some nervy moments for the Bears on the night, but Byers often looked to be on an island and Grosso had to drop deep into the midfield to try to build attacks for the Horns. 

The tactics and the execution really seemed to do their job against one of the best young attacks in college soccer.

In the 87th minute, Texas had one last chance to steal the game before overtime, but Ava Colberg stepped in yet again and cut out the dangerous ball to preserve the shutout.

"We forget sometimes she’s a freshman,” Jobson said after the game, "How many ever games we are into the season, that’s how many games we are into her career. And she’s playing like a veteran. Really proud of her effort back there.

In overtime, both teams seemed to be running out of energy a little. The defenses were set in and the quality shooting chances became more scarce. 

For Baylor, Mackenzie Anthony just could not beat the pace of the Texas center backs, as had been the case all night really. Speed is not her best attribute, and speed was needed to win those one-on-one competitions. Her awareness, ball control, and aerial skill did help Baylor create multiple chances tonight though.

The last truly meaningful passage of play in the game came with just over one minute left in the match. Texas was starting to hem Baylor in. A Longhorn played a cross into the Bearss’ 18-yard box, and it appeared to hit a defender’s arm. No penalty was given.

Texas will feel hard-done by this no-call, but the ref was pretty consistent and even across the night as a whole. Both teams probably should have had penalties tonight. Neither did.

The last seconds ticked off the clock, and Baylor earned their 0-0 draw. Not the best result, but a very solid result against a good team. Shutting out this kind of attack should never really be disappointing.

After the game, coach Jobson said "I thought we executed our game plan really, really well. We were solid defensively. This is probably the most prolific threesome in the country, that we actually shut down tonight. I thought we did a great job with that. We sacrificed a little bit of our attack to be able to do that, but I still thought we were real explosive in the attack, had some great opportunities. It didn’t kill our attack, but I thought we had some great opportunities moving forward.”

WotM: Ava Colberg - An absolutely amazing defensive performance for 110 minutes. There was no doubt about this pick.

Up Next: Iowa State (The. 10/21 7 PM)