Preview: Baylor Soccer Senior Night vs Oklahoma State
WACO, Texas — Baylor Soccer (4-10-2, 2-6-0) is preparing for possibly its last game of the year tomorrow night at home against the Oklahoma State Cowgirls (10-3-4, 4-2-2) on Senior Night.
With a win, the Bears’ season will continue for at least one more game this Sunday down in Round Rock at the Big 12 tournament. Anything less puts the fate of the green and gold in the hands of Kansas and Iowa State.
Before we get to all the different scenarios and specifics of this matchup for Baylor, let’s take a quick look at each of the six student-athletes being honored on Senior Night.
*Note: All start and appearance stats are based on regular and post-season play (not exhibitions)
Kayley Ables — A staple of Baylor Soccer for the last five years, the Midway High alum went from scoring 100 high school goals to being the leader of the “no-goal-patrol” and an All-Conference level defender. She has started 82 times in her 87 appearances for Baylor heading into Senior Night. With a start against OSU she will move into ties for 4th in appearances and 8th in starts in program history. She has scored once for the Bears and been awarded multiple academic honors throughout her career.
Maddie Algya — Another staple of the program since 2018, Algya has made 70 appearances in the green and gold with 57 starts. She has netted five goals and dished out eight assists over her career while being a constant, hard-working presence in the midfield. She has also been a consistent fixture on conference academic teams and Baylor honor rolls. Algya, Ables, and Taylor Moon are the last members of the 2018 Big 12 championship team to finish their Baylor careers.
Taylor Moon — Moon might not have the appearance number that Ables and Algya have with “just” 65 appearances and 34 starts, but she is the most prolific scorer on the roster through her Baylor career. Moon has netted 15 goals and dished six assists for the Bears, including a hat-trick in 2020 against Louisiana. This year she has been sidelined all year with a knee injury suffered in the last game of the 2021 campaign. That injury has left the possibility of a redshirt and therefore a 6th year for Moon, if she should choose to take it. Not to be forgotten, Moon has earned multiple academic honors as well.
Elizabeth Kooiman — A true senior, Kooiman has been a productive winger for the Bears with eight goals and six assists in 64 appearances. 56 of those games were starts for the San Jose, Ca. native. Another Bear who has succeeded on and off the field, she has multiple academic honors as well as scoring perhaps (there are not great records on this) Baylor’s fastest hat trick ever with three goals in one half against West Virginia in 2019.
Marissa Gray — Gray is another true senior with at least one year of eligibility remaining should she choose to take it. The defender has struggled for the last three years with injuries and looked poised to make a comeback this year before they kept her off the field yet again. As a freshman in 2019, Gray made 19 appearances with 10 starts, one goal and two assists. She played in the Spring of 2021, and could definitely make a difference on the field health permitting. Aside from all of that, she had a great interview with Faith Lynch on the Dear Sports podcast where she details her time at Baylor — injuries, faith and all.
Alyssa Navarrete — Last but not least, is goalkeeper Alyssa Navarrete. The Georgetown transfer has spent just two years of her career at Baylor but has engrained herself in the team. Despite only playing 14 minutes in the green and gold (being injured this year and Jennifer Wandt’s backup last year), she has had a successful career. At Georgetown, she was a key part in the Hoyas’ 2020 Big East Championship and Sweet 16 run. She made 13 starts and gave up just two goals that year.
Now on to Oklahoma State...
The Cowgirls sit at 5th in the Big 12 Standings and will be looking to possibly improve their seeding for Round Rock.
They have won just once in their last six games, but the competition level has been high. Their 3-2-3 record in the Big 12 is a very clear indicator of how good this team is. They have lost to Texas and TCU. They have beaten Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State. They have tied WVU, Texas Tech and Oklahoma.
This team has played to their level, not the opponents’, So Baylor will need to play to the Cowgirls' level. Baylor coach Michelle Lenard has said many times that this is a tightly grouped conference and each and every game is winnable, so the green and gold have every shot of coming out and winning this one.
The OSU results also show that it will most likely take 2 goals to win. The Bears have not shut any Big 12 foe out this year. The Pokes have scored a goal in seven of eight Big 12 games so far, but they have scored more than one just a single time.
With the end of Baylor season at stake, the green and gold should step up with a good effort. The Bears’ fate is in their hands if they win. If they draw or lose, then the result of the Iowa State at Kansas game will determine whether Kansas or Baylor claims the 8th and final spot in the Big 12 tournament.
A Baylor draw will see them safely to Round Rock if Kansas does not win. A Baylor loss could still see the Bears reach the postseason if Kansas losses as well.
Essentially, the Bears have to at worst match the result that Kansas earns against Iowa State. Thank goodness for the head-to-head win in Waco.
Otherwise, that will be the end of the 2022 season for Baylor Soccer, and the team will be left to rue the Kansas State game with the highly questionable penalty decision as well as the Texas game that saw them play so well but still fall 1-0.
The Senior Night game against Oklahoma State is a 7 PM CT kickoff Thursday night and will be streamable on ESPN+.