Preview: Baylor Soccer ends regular season at Oklahoma

WACO, Texas – Baylor Soccer is headed to Norman, Oklahoma to finish its regular-season slate against the Sooners Thursday night at 7 PM. The Bears are 8-3-6 overall, with a 4-1-3 conference record that has them sitting in third place currently. The Sooners are 7-10-1, with a 3-5-0 Big 12 record good for seventh in the conference. Improved seeding and momentum for the conference tournament are on the line, but not much else.

Given Oklahoma’s record, a tie appears unlikely even against a Baylor team that has drawn three of its last four games. The Bears are also unbeaten in their last 12 matchups with the Sooners and hold a 13-6-6 edge in the all-time series.

Baylor’s program record holder in career shutouts, Jennifer Wandt, is now gunning for the Big 12 record after racking up four straight shutouts over the last three weeks. She currently sits in second in conference history with 39 shutouts. Wandt and newly crowned Big 12 defender of the week Kayley Ables have held opponents scoreless eight times now this year with the help of the rest of the “no goal patrol”.

They will also have a chance to extend the Bears’ current shutout streak beyond the already impressive 498 consecutive minutes, which are good for the fifth-longest streak in program history.

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Standings as of 10/26

Looking to end that streak will be an experienced Oklahoma attack featuring 3 seniors and one very good freshman. Bri Amos (#13) leads the Sooners in points with five goals and four assists. She has been a consistent presence for the Oklahoma offense and works well out of the midfield with Megan Reilly (#6) up front. Reilly, also a senior, won Big 12 attacker of the week a couple of weeks ago and has netted four goals this year.

Outside of these two, freshman forward Leonie Weber (#31) starts and has made nice contributions of three goals and two assists this season. Lastly, senior Jasmine “Jazzy” Richards (#26) serves in a super-sub role, playing limited minutes in almost every game but scoring an impressive six goals.

Baylor has clearly figured out how to limit mistakes and play consistently good defense, so the Sooners’ attack should not seem too imposing. However, a goal is needed if they actually want to win. As nice as it was for Mackenzie Anthony to get back on the score sheet last Thursday against Iowa State, more of the offense needs to show that killer instinct that they had early in conference play.

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Thursday’s games

The Sooners also won’t just sit back and let Baylor figure it out for themselves. Oklahoma has racked up 26 yellow cards and a red card this year through 218 fouls. For context, Baylor, known as one of the most physical teams in the league, only has 15 yellows and 177 fouls. This game is going to be grueling.

The midfield battle will be telling for how the rest of the game turns out since defenses will always be physical. If Ally Henderson-Ashkinos and company can force Sooners’ senior midfielder Cailey England (#8) to be disconnected from Bri Amos, then the Bears should be in business. England and Amos are two of Oklahoma’s better players, and they connect the offense with the defense. Making life difficult on those two should see pressure taken off Baylor’s backline.

This would also help give Taylor Moon, Mack Anthony and Elizabeth Kooiman more consistent chances to develop attacks.

Oklahoma has been consistently improving over the course of the season as seen in their two games with Oklahoma State. Early in the year, they lost 2-0, but last week they pushed the Cowgirls to overtime before falling 3-2.

The Sooners have also never looked truly in over their heads this year, except for the 7-0 thrashing they took from Texas Tech. The Sooners lost by one goal to #1 Virginia, #14 SMU, and #20 Texas. They even scored three on the Longhorns forcing a crazy comeback.

If one thing can be said of the Sooners, they play their game. They play physical and don’t get defeated by the challenges they face, only by the actual play of their opponents.

The Bottom Line: Baylor needs to play up to its ability. Oklahoma will fight as hard as anyone in the conference, but Baylor is the better team. A win would also be great for the Bears heading into the post-season.