Baylor Soccer Eases Past Louisiana Tech 3-0

WACO, Texas — Baylor Soccer (2-1-1) overcame a bit of a sluggish start to comfortably beat the visiting Louisiana Tech Bulldogs 3-0 thanks to goals from Ashley Merrill, Jenna Patterson and Tyler Isgrig.

It was the home opener for the Bears after playing the first three games of the season on the road and earning a win, a loss and a draw in that order. The Bears saw more of the ball on the night with 60% possession, 37% of which was in the final attacking quarter. 

Shots, shots on goal and corners were all in favor of the Green-and-Gold as well at 18-7, 11-3 and 11-3 respectively.

Heading into the matchup, Baylor head coach Michelle Lenard focused on consistency for her team after up-and-down performances through the first two weeks.

And at first, it looked as if that emphasis had not translated to the field. It took until the 44th minute for the Green-and-Gold to find the back of the net.

Defender Blythe Obar rocketed in a nice shot from around the top of the Bulldogs’ 18-yard box when a Baylor corner kick bounced to her. That shot was right at the keeper and saved.

Jenna Patterson and Callie Conrad both had runs in on goal around the 24th and 39th minutes respectively, but the LA Tech goalkeeper was up to the challenge both times.

Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365

Theresa McCullough (14)

Finally, with just a pair of minutes left in the first half, freshman substitute Theresa McCullough made a nifty move along the right sideline to leave her defender in the dust and drive toward the Bulldog box. 

McCullough got her eyes up and found Ashley Merrill making a secondary run into the box in the space left from Callie Conrad’s run. 

You could see it in Merrill’s eyes. She wasn’t missing. 1-0 Baylor. 

The celebration, unlike the somewhat rare ones last season, was rather muted. Scoring was the expectation. There was joy in it don’t question that, but the confidence was showing in the subtlety of it all.

From there, the Green-and-Gold saw out the half and headed to the locker room to re-adjust the game plan. They had clearly wanted more from the first 45.

“Would like to see us get and earlier start on scoring goals,” said Lenard after the game, “I think that we could have scored earlier and more.”

Offering more specifics, Coach Lenard added, “We need to be a little bit more assertive around the 18-yard box… I think it's hard for us sometimes to find the balance between taking out chances and being patient.”

In the second half, the Bears clearly got the halftime message. 

Just 11 minutes into the second period, Tyler Isgrig was able to drop into the midfield and dish the ball to Patterson on the left side. The LA Tech keeper, keen to the threat raced off her line to challenge Patterson, but the graduate winger calmly found her way around the keeper and sent the ball home to score her first goal as a Bear. 2-0 Baylor.

After the game, Isgrig recounted, “For me, I started playing more free [in the second half] and dropping into the midfield more. And that’s how I was able to slip Jenna in on the second goal.”

And just nine minutes later, Isgrig would get her own. The Baylor press was stepping up and causing trouble for the Bulldogs, who turned it over deep in their own half. 

From there, Conrad found Isgrig in the box and the transfer found the back of the net. 3-0 Baylor with 25 minutes to play.

Soon after the third goal, Coach Lenard started working a lot of her bench into the game to help lighten the load on her starters. It is a two-game week after all.

Now, while defensively the Bears kept a clean sheet, there were some issues that need to be worked on. 

The bulldogs found ways to cause some problems for the Baylor midfield that resulted in turnovers and attacking chances.

“Most of the opportunities that they had came from counter-attack moments in the midfield where we had some sloppy turnovers,” said Coach Lenard, “So we have got to be better. We will be punished for that if we continue to make those types of mistakes in the midfield.”

Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365

Callie Conrad (9)

She went on to say that had the Bears given up a goal, it likely would have been on the midfield and not the defense for conceding. Thankfully that is all hypothetical. Ashlee Zirkel and Makinzie Short kept a combined clean sheet, each playing one half.

Overall, the team seemed to be happy with the win, but again fully understanding that they can improve and need to improve to reach their potential. Much like after last Saturday’s draw at Texas A&M.

“We weren’t consistent enough tonight for me,” was the key takeaway from Lenard’s postgame presser.

There was more to it though. Coach and her players were all loving being back at the Betty finally. 

Jenna Patterson said, “It’s so fun to be home and it’s so much easier than sleeping in hotel beds and traveling.”

And Tyler Isgrig added, “I was really excited to get to play under the lights finally and actually play in front of a Baylor crowd. I’ve been here since January but this was my first actual game.”

Now, the Bears have to go back on the road, traveling to Indianapolis to ply Butler on Sunday. That game will kick off at 12 noon CST. 

WotM — Jenna Patterson — She opened her Baylor goal-scoring account and was running hard all night. Lots of attackers to choose from though and Hallie Augustyn made some nice plays in defense as well.

Up Next — at Butler Sunday, September 3^rd at 12 noon CST.