Preview: Baylor Soccer Heads North for Battle with Iowa State
WACO, Texas — Baylor Soccer is on the road once again, making trips to Ames, Iowa for a Thursday night matchup with the Iowa State Cyclones and Morgantown, West Virginia to meet the Mountaineers on Sunday.
This long trip comes on the heels of a rollercoaster week for the Bears. After a hectic two-goal come-from-behind win over Kansas last Thursday, the green and gold were on the other end of a highly questionable penalty call with just 18 seconds left against Kansas State. That call resulted in a 2-1 loss.
“The last game felt pretty devastating, honestly,” said Baylor head coach Michelle Lenard. “We dominated possession in both of those last two games. We had more key passes than the opponent. More entrances into the opponent's 18-yard box.”
There were many positives for the Bears to take away. They scored as many goals in that pair of games as they had in the previous seven. Freshman forward Reneta Vargas has returned from injury in force and earned a weekly award from the Big 12.
However, there are plenty of lessons to learn as well.
“We made a lot of mistakes in those last few seconds,” commented Lenard, “We were trying desperately to get the ball back because we wanted to score. We wanted to win, and because we have that mentality, we exposed ourselves to a risk we didn't need to take in that moment.”
Both coach Lenard and her players know not to dwell on those shortcomings though. They are sticking to the process and the ideas that they have been training all season long.
Forward Elizabeth Kooiman also looked past the penalty at the end to the team’s performance throughout the rest of the game.
“We definitely had chances we should have put away and we shouldn't have been in that position. But still very frustrating there at the end.”
Kooiman seems to be an example of where the whole team is at mentally. They know they are better than that result and they want to go prove it in Ames.
Chemistry and Ruthlessness
Part of what may have been holding these Bears back is a lack of chemistry and understanding of the finer tendencies of individuals on the field. It takes a lot of time to learn just where, how and why a player likes to play a ball or position themselves in the box.
You can ask all the right questions, study the answers, and rep in practice, but until you develop that feel for it and it becomes second nature, there will be something lacking.
“This year with the group of 15 new players and a whole new coaching staff, like we've lacked it [chemistry] a little bit,” said junior wingback Sarah Hornyak.
Hornyak is on a run of good form lately, finding DBU transfer Ashley Merrill with an assist against Kansas after seeing significant time against both Texas and Oklahoma.
It’s been a process to get there both for Hornyak and the team as a whole. The connections and ruthlessness in front of goal that they want to play with are still developing.
“I think the message has been consistent throughout the entire season,” said Lenard, “That is stick with the process.”
Lenard also noted the need for instinctual, predatory play in the opponent’s 18-yard box.
“We're looking for a ruthlessness and I think being able to put teams away when we have the momentum is something that we maybe haven't had recently.”
“We kind of let off the gas,” Hornyak said of the Kansas State game coming on the heels of the exciting Kansas win.
The Southlake native went on to describe how one of her high school coaches, and the father of former teammate Madeline Bryant, would tell them to keep up the attack until there are “no bubbles” from the opponent. It’s a self-admitted gruesome drowning metaphor from Hornyak, but the takeaway is to maintain a killer mentality.
And that kind of mentality goes for both attackers and defenders. Defense is where the bears exposed themselves too much at the end against KSU.
“We need to keep the ball out of the net, so one goal could potentially be enough for us because sometimes we need one goal to stand up and be enough.”
Iowa State is in the Same Boat
The Cyclones find themselves in a very similar spot to Baylor currently. Making it to Round Rock for the Big 12 tournament is anything but certain and a visit from the Bears is a great opportunity for points.
“We're trying to get in the conference tournament. They are too,” said Lenard, “We're on the road, we're on turf. Both of those things are gonna be challenging. I think it's gonna be cold in Iowa and West Virginia, so we're gonna have to overcome a little bit of that.”
Iowa State also has struggled to put the ball in the back of the net this year, with just 11 goals like Baylor. The Cyclones have surrendered 93 corner kicks and been forced to make 81 saves across their 13 games.
Those stats lead me to believe they play pretty compact in defense and focus main on direct attacks or counters.
“Everybody in the Big 12, no matter how much they can hold onto the ball, has a weapon up front that can hurt you in a counterattack moment,” added coach Lenard.
And with points in the standings being so hard to come by, the staff has made some tweaks to help the green and gold secure some in Ames.
“We've made some slight adjustments to the way that we're attacking so that we're better positioned to defend in these counterattack moments,” said Kooiman.
The Bottom Line
Points are at a premium and Iowa State and West Virginia are currently the only teams in the bottom half of the Big 12 that Baylor hasn’t played. This road trip is both a big opportunity and a crucial stretch in the season.
“We'd love to get some points on the road. If we could come home with three points or more, I think that would position us to hopefully get into the conference tournament,” said coach Lenard.
However, any focus on where the opponents are in the standings is absent from Baylor Soccer. They see each game the same: all winnable opportunities to prove themselves.
“For us, at this point, it's not about our opponent. It's not about what they do. It's about us executing our game model.”
Lenard’s biggest questions at this point are about mentality and that killer instinct. She knows they can compete against anyone.
“Can we be relentless? Can we be ruthless? Can we find a way to kill the game so that our opponent doesn't stay in it, where something maybe flukey could happen toward the end of the game.”