Baylor Soccer 2023 Preview: Top Three Newcomers
With the soccer season starting Thursday, it’s time to finish helping people get to know the team and its schedule. We started last Tuesday with the Top Three Non-Conference Games and covered the Top Three Questions on Wednesday. Since then we have also looked at the Big 12 Preseason Poll, the Top Three Big 12 Games for the Bears, and the Top Three Returners. Today, let’s take a look at the top three newcomers to Baylor Soccer heading into the 2023 season.
The Bears welcomed four transfers and a freshman class of ten to Waco since the end of last season, and there are many in that group who will play important roles on the field this year.
“We know this group that we've brought in, several of them have the ability to come in and contribute right away,” said head coach Michelle Lenard, “Whether that's maybe as a starter, but more likely as like significant minutes off the bench. We feel that there's several of them that could come in and add really important depth in key positions.”
Through a couple of conversations in the spring and at the end of July, Coach Lenard offered plenty of options to fill out this top three list. Transfers Hannah Boughton (Missouri midfielder) and Makinzie Short (Oklahoma goalkeeper) are two who could make their mark on the season but just missed this top three.
Boughton will play a significant role in the midfield this year and is already in a leadership role for the team.
Short, a graduate student with experience from Oklahoma and Nebraska, appears to be in a battle with sophomore Ashlee Zirkel for the starting goalkeeper spot. Short has more length and experience and Coach Lenard is not afraid to split starts between keepers during the season as we saw last year.
Both players look to be good additions to the squad, but they missed out to the following three attacking options:
Callie Conrad — The Mansfield, Texas native who will wear No. 9 for Baylor could come to dominate the role of the very same number. A forward who Coach Lenard had effusive praise for, Conrad might be able to spell other forwards like Reneta Vargas and rack up goals while doing so.
”She's gonna play a hugely important role for us,” Lenard said, “She's physically ready already. It's just going to be a matter of how quickly can she get caught up on the game model.”
But who will give her good service to put shots on goal and in the back of the net?
Adriana Merriam — Baylor’s new No. 7 keeps the string of midwesterners coming to Waco to play soccer alive. Merriam, an Evanston, Illinois native, is the only left-footed player on the team and will likely get some run at left winger along with her listed position of midfield because of this.
Again, Coach Lenard spoke very highly of the freshman: “I think she's going to come in either at attacking mid or as a winger, she's left-footed and adds a lot of flair, creativity… great on the ball, great vision.”
So one scorer and one distributor (not to put either in a box)… how about someone who will do lots of both?
Tyler Isgrig — The Arlington Martin HS grad and former TCU Horned Frog looks set to be a major producer for the Green-and-Gold in 2023. A brief look at her stats from TCU shows her huge potential:
She earned a Big 12 Freshman of the Week honor last season, scored six goals and dished out three assists in 619 minutes of action across 21 games. Per 90 minutes, that would be 0.87 goals and 0.44 assists, so 1.3 goal contributions per full game of action.
While living up to the averages of a limited sample size at a more established program might be a bit unreasonable, it is not impossible. Plus, Isgrig received perhaps the most praise from Lenard through the offseason.
“Some people can score and some are gonna score and Tyler's gonna score. And so she just finds a way, she's dangerous on both feet… she can also create chances for others, serve a heck of a ball.”
Isgrig is also already in a leadership role on the team and is used to winning, having won a club national championship during high school.
Clearly, the Bears have many more attacking options heading into this season and it should pay dividends. Whether the top three above are the ones to help Baylor take that step forward or other names not mentioned assert themselves, expect more goals in 2023 and more goals from some new faces.
With tomorrow being the eve of the season opener against the University of Oregon, we will have one last top three: the top three reasons to be excited for 2023 Baylor Soccer. Plus, a brief preview of the matchup with the Ducks.