Preview: Baylor Soccer welcomes Iowa State to the Lou
WACO, Texas – Baylor Soccer hosts the Iowa State Cyclones Thursday night at Betty Lou Mays field at 7 PM as they push for the Big 12 regular-season title. The 7-3-5 Bears are 3-1-2 in conference play, good enough for 3rd place currently. Iowa State comes in last in the Big 12 at 4-9-0 (1-4-0).
The green-and-gold are coming off of a competitive, scoreless draw with first-place Texas last Friday. They also drew the prior game at Kansas State 0-0 as well.
“It's all about mindset. I mean, what do you want to think about,” coach Paul Jobson said, “if you want to think about how frustrating it is if we didn't score a goal, or do you want to think about the fact that we shut down a great offensive team and still kept ourselves in the running for a Big 12 championship.”
That is the mindset the team is trying to bring into the home stretch of the regular season. The players are clearly on the same page with both goalkeeper Jennifer Wandt and defender Sarah Hornyak echoing the coach’s statement.
“Every single week and every single time we play, it's just our goal to win the game we have that day,” said Wandt, “and with that mentality, championships will come. Big 12 championships have been our goal since we started this season. So, I'm happy that we're still in the running and it's still an option. So, we just want to take it one game at a time.”
While the one-game-at-a-time mantra is classic, the path the Bears have traveled has not been forgotten. Hornyak spoke to that when trying to describe where the team is at mentally right now.
“I think coming in a lot of us with our first two results during that weekend against TCU and OSU, they were kind of huge like confidence builders under our belt. I think going to Kansas was just kind of like bringing it back, you have to keep it together kind of thing. And from there, we are still chasing that championship... we have to work hard to get those results.”
In order to accomplish their goals, the Bears will have to end their two-game scoreless streak. They have been generating plenty of good chances, putting 21 shots on goal in those two games, including a season-high 13 shots at KSU.
“We're doing a great job of creating opportunities,” coach Jobson said, “If we’re not creating opportunities, I'm worried, you know, but we're creating great opportunities and scoring goals is a streaky thing.”
It is also important to remember, scoring is not the only streaky thing. Baylor has lost just once in their last 12 games. Iowa State has lost three straight and has scored just twice in their five conference games.
None of that will really matter once the game kicks off Thursday night at the Lou. The Bears’ defense will have to shut down Mira Emma (#32), Lauren McConnell (#9), and the rest of the Cyclones’ attack.
Those two are responsible for the majority of Iowa State’s end product this year, with Emma netting three goals plus three assists and McConnell tallying two of each.
Iowa State might struggle to keep possession against a fast and physical team like Baylor, so the game could become reminiscent of the Kansas State match for Baylor.
However, Jobson said, “they're an aggressive team. They're athletic. They always pose a very tough challenge for our team.”
And, as usual, he would be right. Jobson has gone 5-3-0 against ISU, and physicality should be no issue for the Cyclones. They come into the matchup with one more yellow car, an extra red card, and only slightly fewer fouls than Baylor has accumulated this season.
With that in mind, Wandt, Hornyak and co. will need to stay alert to long balls both through the lines and over the top to ensure that ISU’s athletes don’t have enough space to work.
At the other end of the field, Taylor Moon, Mackenzie Anthony, and Elizabeth Kooiman will try to get back on a roll. The talent between those three, not to mention the attackers on the bench, has to shine through eventually.
With only two home matches left in her senior season, Moon will probably find a way to score at least one more at the Lou. She is an absolute force on the right wing and has been the source for many of Baylor’s best chances through conference play.
Similarly, Wandt can add to her Baylor records of career shutouts and wins during the homestand, and possibly take home another Big 12 weekly award to add to her program record.
While she is not looking beyond Iowa State on the field, it is not lost on the fifth-year starter that
her time playing at Baylor is winding down.
“It's crazy that the last two-game Big 12 weekend is here,” Wandt said, “It makes me a little emotional sometimes to think about, but I'm just excited to get after it with my best friends and hopefully come up with some good results.”
If they can come up with a good result Thursday night, then the door will remain open for them to take home that regular-season crown. Every title winner always has that killer instinct though, and it has been a few matches since we have seen Baylor’s.
The Bottom Line: The defense seems to be where is needs to be to climb back to the top. Will the offense get back to that place? ISU is a great opportunity for that.
