Baylor Soccer gets back on track, beats Iowa State 2-0
WACO, Texas – Baylor Soccer ended their three-game winless streak Thursday night at home, putting together a complete 2-0 win over Iowa State. Sophomore forward Mackenzie Anthony netted her team-leading seventh and eighth goals off the year in the second half to push the Bears past the visiting Cyclones. The goals came in the 47th and 89th minutes, with the second one assisted by Elizabeth Kooiman.
The win keeps Baylor at third in the Big 12 on 2.00 points per game and a 4-1-2 record in conference. Elsewhere tonight, #21 Texas drew with West Virginia 0-0 to drop the Longhorns from the top spot.
Baylor needs some help from both TCU and Texas to claim the top spot at the end of the regular season next Thursday, but the race is getting tight.
Baylor played a solid game in practically every aspect Thursday night. The defense was alert and physical. The midfield shut down Iowa State’s best player. And the offense finally got rolling again thanks in large part to Mackenzie Anthony.
In the first half, both teams settled in well with the Bears taking slightly more control of the game. They won corners in the 10th and 20th minutes of the game, plus free kicks in the 11th, 18th, and 23rd minutes.
The free kick in the 18th came courtesy of a hard Iowa State foul on Elizabeth Kooiman down the left wing, which resulted in a yellow card for the offending Cyclone.
While no outstanding chances on goal came from these set pieces, they established the status quo for the rest of the night: Iowa State would have chances, but Baylor would have control.
The Bears pressed well for most of the night, forcing some nervy moments and jumping on opportunities that they created. In the 27th minute, Taylor Moon almost found herself in on goal thanks to a poor back-pass, but the Iowa State goalkeeper was quick off of her line to make the clearance.
Moon also had a good shout for a penalty in the 43rd minute of the half, but the referee allowed play to go on.
At halftime, Baylor had registered nine shots to the Cyclones’ three and three corners versus their zero. All that was needed from the Bears were minor adjustments and so ideas on how to further exploit ISU’s style of play.
One of those ideas was quickly put into action in the second half by Mackenzie Anthony. Just two minutes into the new period, Anthony blocked a pass from ISU’s backline thanks to her hard pressing. The ricochet fell perfectly for her to run towards goal, and, seeing the keeper far off of her line, she immediately sent a chipped shot in from closer to midfield than the box.
Once the ball left Anthony’s foot there was no doubt. It was 1-0 Baylor.
The Bears’ two-and-a-half-game scoreless streak was ended, and Anthony had her first goal since conference play started.
“I saw that she kind of played farther up,” Anthony said after the game, “so I saw that she was out of her... definitely like way off the line. So, I realized in college soccer, the quicker you play the easier it is to score.”
That awareness and quick thinking was a great way for Baylor to get its attack going. It was almost too simple, and that can inspire great confidence in a team.
“We actually weren't expecting this goalkeeper to play tonight,” coach Paul Jobson said, “Their normal starter was out tonight, so we didn't know a lot of what that keeper was going to do. Mack is a very aware goal scorer and noticed that she was coming off her line; saw it, played a perfect ball in behind her.”
From there, Taylor Moon and Elizabeth Kooiman stepped up their pressure on Iowa State’s defense. In the 54th minute, Kooiman sent a great cross into the box, but it was just too tall for Anthony. If Anthony had not gotten a piece of it, Moon might have been able to direct it on goal.
Despite all the pressure, Baylor’s lead was still a single goal. The defense and keeper Jennifer Wandt had to remain vigilant to ensure the three points.
With a half-hour to go, Iowa State started finding good shooting opportunities by quickly switching the point of attack from one wing to the other. A shot from one of these sequences required a big save from Wandt in the 62nd minute, and she did not disappoint.
As time was running down on the Cyclones, the game got a bit sloppier thanks to the physicality of both teams. There was no quit in the visitors, who matched the roughness of the Bears all night.
“They’re gritty. I mean, that's just who they are,” midfielder Ally Henderson-Ashkinos said, “They play a lot like us in that way. So we know that they're always going to match us in physicality. This is my fifth year playing them, so I definitely know that by now we know a lot of familiar faces every year. So, we know what we're getting into every year and it's never easy. I mean, every team in the big 12 is good, but they're a team that has always been a tough one for us every year.”
That grittiness in the game drew a yellow card out of Taylor Moon in the 63rd minute and saw Olivia Mack earn herself one in the 73rd.
As the game reached its later stages, Baylor was still looking for some added security for their lead.
“I felt like they were getting good pressure on us, on our backs,” coach Jobson said, “We just could not release the ball, so we were trying really hard to get the ball out of the back so we could push for a goal. We were looking to play the balls on the corner; had a free kick in that area where we might be able to capitalize.”
And capitalize they did. In the 89th minute, Henderson-Ashkinos sent a free kick into the ISU box from the left corner. It was flicked on to the far side of the six-yard box with a header by Kooiman, where Anthony controlled the ball and lashed a shot back past the keeper for a 2-0 lead.
Henderson-Ashkinos said after the game that the Bears had been working on finishing crosses and corners all week, and the practice paid off.
Baylor saw itself through the last minute of game time and celebrated a decisive 2-0 victory with that much more excitement after going three weeks without a victory and two weeks without a goal.
About scoring goals for the first time in a while, Anthony said, “I mean, it feels good after a couple of ties. It feels good to get some goals on the board.”
And she was quick to praise her teammate for facilitating her goal-scoring chances and keeping a clean sheet at the other end.
It really was a full team performance Thursday night. The Bears looked ready to play and very controlled at every level.
“Three points don't come easy in this conference,” coach Jobson said, “It doesn't matter who you're playing on either end of the table, it doesn't matter. It's always going to be a tough match. They earned every bit of that tonight.”
The win is big for them as regular-season play is coming to a close and they still have a shot at the Big 12 title. West Virginia is coming to Waco for a Sunday afternoon match, and while the Mountaineers can only play spoiler as far as the regular-season championship goes, plenty is still on the line for both teams.
“Huge,” Henderson Ashkinos said about the WVU match, “We need to win out, you know, that's, that's our goal. We’ve got to win out the rest of our games. We want to be seeded really well in the Big 12 tournament too, cause that's important to us and we're excited it's coming up.”
With big games and big opportunities ahead, the Bears should be happy they found their stride Thursday night at home.
WotM: Mackenzie Anthony - Great awareness and great finishing give her the edge here over a team full of really solid players on the night.
Up Next: West Virginia (Sun. 10/24 1 PM)