Merrill, Mueller Shoot Bears Past Gators in Dramatic 2-1 Win

AUSTIN, Texas — Michelle Lenard now has her first win as the head coach of Baylor Soccer after a dramatic 2-1 win over the University of Florida.

The Bears, who are in Austin for a pair of games this weekend, eked out an important win for the program in the first game Thursday afternoon.

After a scoreless first half largely controlled by the green and gold, Dallas Baptist transfer Ashley Merrill got on the end of a Maddie Algya corner and headed it home. 1-0 Bears 56 minutes into the game.

“[That’s] a corner kick that we've been working hard on and we executed it finally,” Coach Lenard said after the game, “It's a good service. Ashley is good at that and timed it well.”

Baylor looked to be sitting pretty with a lead and great control of the game up until the goal, but the Gators switched things up and made a real contest of it.

“When they shifted to a 4-4-2, we started to get exposed in those moments’” said Lenard, “So that's where we can make a quick game, time tactical shift in our midfield to adjust for that. We just need the players to be able to do it on the fly.”

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Lenard mentioned those adjustments as an area for improvement because that cost Baylor its lead today.

With just ten minutes to go, Florida broke through the Baylor backline and sent a shot just past Lauren Traywick’s fingertips. It bounced off the right post, tantalizingly back across the goal, and was smashed home from an almost unthinkable angle to tie the game 1-1.

The Bears did not hang their heads though. Haven Terry kept running hard down the left wing, and in the 88th minute, one of her crosses found Gabby Mueller in the box. On the day of her first start of the year, Mueller calmly chested the ball down, got her feet right, and sent it past the Florida keeper for the winner. 2-1 Bears.

“Really happy for Gabby to finish that one for us,” Coach Lenard said after the game, “We know she can finish. We've been challenging her to get herself in the box more and she did. Fantastic finish.”

Now that we are past the highlights, let’s look back a little more thoroughly.

While the first half was scoreless, it did not lack excitement. The Bears trotted out some interesting tactics with wing-backs (players that line up with the defensive line but bomb forward up the wings and send in crosses on offense).

With those wingbacks taking advantage of the Florida defense and four Bears who we would typically classify as midfielders in the starting lineup, the green and gold were on the front foot almost the entire half.

Chipped balls over the top and quick switches of play across the field were great to see. While such aggressive tactics probably can’t be used against every team, it’s great to see how well Baylor employed them.

“I thought we played well from the beginning,” Lenard commented, “we controlled the first half, didn't create enough good chances, but controlled it.”

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Kayley Ables vs Florida

In goal today was Lauren Traywick, rotating back in after Madison Martin started against Wisconsin. Traywick was solid in goal and asking a keeper to recover from an attempted save and get to the rebound shot is a tough ask. Plus, the initial shot was very well placed on the post.

In coach Lenard’s words: “I have to go back and look at the film because I thought she had it covered. And then it got right by her fingertips and hit the post.”

Otherwise, Lenard said that she was happy with how Traywick managed the game well, played out with feet well, made the saves she needed to make, and control the momentum shifts for the most part.

It will be interesting to see if the Bears continue to use the wingbacks and the four midfielders in the future, especially against national No. 1 North Carolina Sunday.

What Lenard wants to take away from this game and improve on is this: “We've got to be more defensively organized against whomever we're playing at this point. We created some better chances, but we did get exploited in counter-attack moments and UNC will be clinical if we're not organized to counter-press. And then when we are in a low block, we've got to be more organized because we're getting pulled out of our shape far too often when we're close to our own goal.”

But in the end, at least for today, every member of the Baylor Soccer team can enjoy a win. The first win of the year, and hopefully of plenty more to come in 2022 and the rest of the Michelle Lenard era.

WotM: Gabby Mueller — The calm and composed game-winner was brilliant and she clearly adds something to the Baylor attack. Ashley Merrill also has a great shout for WotM but she won it last game and it’s good to spread the praise.

Up Next: vs UNC (in Austin) Sunday 8/28 12 PM CST on LHN