Baylor Soccer Surrenders 1-1 Draw to Aggies in College Station
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Baylor Soccer drew 1-1 with Texas A&M after giving up a 75th-minute penalty kick goal to the Aggies.
Ashley Merrill scored for the Bears in the 16th minute to give the Green-and-Gold the one-goal lead that they would defend tooth-and-nail until the soft penalty was called on a Hallie Augustyn challenge in the Baylor box.
In front of a massive crowd of 6,743 fans on Texas A&M’s “Fish Camp Night”, the Bears stood up well to the surging Aggies offense and crowd.
Baylor was outshot five to 22 and looked to be under siege for much of the game, but the possession stats show a more even game like the scoreline. The Bears had 46% possession and did well progressing it forward. The final passes were just a bit lacking, though there was a good goal-scoring opportunity for each of the five Baylor shots.
The Merrill goal was the one that Baylor capitalized on, and it was a thing of beauty.
In what was the Bears’ first great chance of the game, Natalie Vatter held up the ball on the right sideline before finding Tyler Isgrig more centrally. Isgrig drove towards the Aggies' back line while Merrill made a run from left to right in behind.
One defender stepped up, and Isgrig passed the ball right by here to Merrill who was running into the vacated space and onto goal.
Merrill was calm as ever and opened her account for the year with an absolutely textbook goal. 1-0 Baylor in the 16th minute.
“We created a fantastic goal with a great finish,” said Baylor head coach Michelle Lenard after the game, “I mean, literally how we drew it up.”
Sadly, Vatter would later have to leave the game and not return, making defensive substitutions trickier for coach Lenard on a hot and humid night.
The Aggies responded to the goal with some prolonged pressure on Ashlee Zirkel, the sophomore Baylor goalkeeper making her first career start.
Zirkel withstood the pressure well, making five saves and punching away many corners and crosses.
Baylor would find times to either counter or build out from the back into solid chances, like when Isgrig found Jenna Patterson with an opening in the box in the 35th minute. However, Patterson just could not connect well with the cross and the ball went wide of the Texas A&M goal.
Zirkel and the Baylor defense would get one last scare before halftime, with the Aggies' Sam Smith sending in a shot that would shake the woodwork. But it ultimately went out of play and the Bears reached halftime with the 1-0 lead intact.
The second half saw the Bears do better to threaten Texas A&M for a second goal and maintain possession, but their attempts would not be enough.
Offensive highlights for the Green-and-Gold in the second half included some missed connections on crosses from Ava Colberg to Skylar Zinnecker and from Merrill to Patterson. Those were around the 63rd and 67th minutes respectively.
During that first stretch of the second half, the Aggies were getting a flurry of chances, but the Bears found ways to deal with all of them up until the 75th minute.
Maile Hayes drove the ball into the right side of the Baylor box and Hallie Augustyn was unfortunately right on her outside hip when Hayes went down. The ref was convinced that Augustyn forced the fall, but on review, it looks like a very soft call.
Nonetheless, Hayes got to step up to the spot and send the ball past Zirkel to equalize.
In the aftermath, the Green-and-Gold collected themselves and went forward with renewed vigor.
Haven Terry forced a mistake from the Aggies with her pressure but was just too slow getting a shot off.
Zinnecker and Callie Conrad played a nice give-and-go, but Zinnecker’s header went right to the keeper. That was in the 83rd minute.
The hosts also found some chances to steal the win, but the Bears — despite cramps and exhaustion — protected the draw till the final whistle.
1-1 at full time. A solid result for Baylor.
The Aggies are a very good and talented team despite still not registering a win this year. They lost to a national top-ten team in Florida State by a late goal and had a similar result against Washington State. The Cougars should be towards the top of the PAC-12 in its final season.
“We didn't want to let the crowd or the environment or a really good team, prevent us from being able to put the ball in the ground to play the way that we wanted to play. And we did that.”
Lenard soon added, “Hate that it comes down to a penalty, but overall, really, really proud of the team. That's a great result.”
WotM — Ashlee Zirkel — I was at the opposite end to her for much of the game, so my view was not the best, but the scoreboard wasn’t lying. She did everything she needed to do to earn a shutout. Penalties just go that way sometimes. Great first start for her.
Up Next — vs Louisiana Tech (August 31st, 7 PM CST)