Preview: Baylor Soccer Hosts Minnesota to Open Regular Season

A 1-0 loss, missing the NCAA tournament, a coaching change, and a full summer are all now behind Baylor Soccer. It’s time for the 2022 season to begin! Thursday night, the Bears kickoff the new campaign against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 7 PM CST at Betty Lou Mays FIeld in Waco. The game will be available on ESPN+.

That 1-0 loss was the opener for the green and gold last year up in Minneapolis. The Bears fell down early, and couldn’t quite catch the gophers as they chased the game for the next 85 minutes.

Chasing the game was not Baylor’s forte under Paul Jobson, and at least last season, it played to Minnesota’s advantage as a defensive, counter-attacking team. This year, while there is not much information or film of the team, Baylor coach Michelle Lenard is ready.

“We don't have a lot of information on them this season,” Lenard said Wednesday, “but based off of what we saw last season, they were more direct. They can play tough. And if you give them too much space, they will. I think they prefer to be a bit more direct in their attack… they're more of a counter-attacking team.”

Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365

Note: direct means getting the ball to their forwards quickly in space and letting them work on their own, something counter-attacking works well for.

For those of you who followed Baylor Soccer last season, Minnesota was a very similar team. They went 8-6-3 (W-L-D) while allowing just 13 goals in 16 games. That made for 0.85 goals per game, the 48th best mark in the nation. They were also the last Division I team to concede a goal last year. So defense was their calling card.

And if Minnesota comes out with a completely different style from what is expected, the Bears should be adaptable. 

“Ultimately want our players to be able to problem solve in the moment anyways,” said Lenard, “so we'll prepare them as best we can for a variety of different scenarios, but we expect them to be able to just figure it out on the run as well.”

A few players to watch for Minnesota will be Sophia Boman (#9), Megan Plaschko (#32) and Izzy Brown (#52). All three were named to the Big Ten’s preseason “players to watch” list. Plaschko started every game in goal for the Gophers last season and gets a large amount of credit for the team’s excellent goals-against record.

Boman and Brown were two of Minnesota’s leading scorers last year with four and six goals respectively. Boman actually scored the lone goal in Baylor’s loss last season.

Going up against those attacks, Lauren Traywick will be at goalkeeper Thursday night. Coach Lenard is confident in LT, but moving forward that could be a game-by-game decision for Lenard as the season continues and the competition unfolds in practice.

In defense, the Augustyn twins, Hallie (#27) and Hannah (#28) impressed during the exhibitions and should get starting spots against Minnesota. Coach Lenard praised skill and composure, saying they have played like veterans already. though she did say some early nerves now that the games count would not be unexpected.

In the midfield and attack, we could see a lot of Bears grab minutes with how deep the Bears’ squad is. Coach Lenard sees this as a strength. She has plenty of game-changing options to send in to try to make a difference in the match.

Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365

All of that goes to say that, even now that games will start count on the record, there are still a lot of unknowns with this Baylor team. Perhaps that is why the Bears came in at just 7th place in the Big 12 preseason poll.

“If anything, it's just something to just prove something wrong,” senior defender and team leader Kayley Ables said Thursday. “We have a chip on our shoulder now, and it's not really what it's about, but it's just adding fuel to the fire.”

These coaches and players know the talent they have in the building and on the practice fields. They plan to go show it off starting tomorrow at 7 PM at the Lou. 

They won’t answer every question Thursday night, but we will start getting some partial answers at least.

And all coach Lenard is looking for is this: “Are we giving ourselves the best opportunity to win? Are we implementing the game style that we have said we're committed to? To executing and are we scoring goals? That's really all we're concerned with.”

The Bottom Line: As far as this game goes, who will be more cohesive and effective in their style? Front-foot possession can be vulnerable to counter-attacking. And a solid, low defensive block is tough to break down. It’s a very intriguing test right off the bat.