Baylor Soccer Tops Texas Tech 7-6 in Dramatic Penalties to Make Big 12 Semifinals
FORT WORTH, Texas — The No. 5 seed Baylor Soccer team outlasted the No. 4 seed Texas Tech Red Raiders in penalty kicks 7-6 to advance past the first round of the 2025 Big 12 Soccer tournament and into the semifinals.
The Bears recovered from an early 1-0 deficit to tie things up early in the second half via a Hannah Augustyn goal, before pushing for a winner that would not come in regulation or overtime.
After a dire first 20 minutes or so of game action, including Texas Tech’s goal in the 3rd minute, the Bears sorted themselves out and rose to the challenge of a very physical Texas Tech team.
“That took a lot out of us,” said Baylor head coach Michelle Lenard after the game, “We had to go dig deep on that one. We had a poor start. We looked a little shell-shocked in the beginning — I’m not real thrilled about that — but the team responded really well.”
That shock could be felt around TCU’s Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium — the host of the first two rounds of the Big 12 Tournament — when Tech’s Sam Courtwright scored in the 3rd minute of the game.
The Red Raiders' opener was very nicely crafted with a cutback from the right side of the goal and going through a dummy run before reaching Courtwright who lashed it past a diving Azul Alvarez and into the far side of the Baylor goal.
1-0 Texas Tech.
The Green and Gold did not recover right away, surrendering four corner kicks in the first seven minutes, but eventually the Bears did settle down and find their game. By the end of the half, Baylor was making good runs down the right through Theresa McCullough, and the Bears even drew a couple of fouls in dangerous areas just before halftime. The breakthrough, however, would have to wait for the second half.
“At halftime, we had to have a little heart-to-heart,” said Coach Lenard, “and everybody agreed: that's not us, and it's got to be better. And I thought we had a fantastic second half. I thought we were unfortunate not to score [a winner] in the run of play in the second half or in the overtime period.”
Ten minutes into the second period, Lauren Omholt cut in off of the left wing for Baylor and split a pair of Red Raider defenders. Omholt’s shot was then blocked, and the ball fell into the middle of the Texas Tech box. That is where Aryanna Jimison rushed away from the Tech goal, twirled around and sent a very good shot at the center of the goal. The ball made it through the Red Raiders’ keeper before a defender saved it off of the line.
The save was not decisive, though, and the ball bounced invitingly in front of a mostly open goal. That is when Baylor’s Hannah Augustyn pounced and poked it home to tie the game.
1-1 with 35 minutes to play in regulation.
Both teams generated some solid chances through the rest of regulation and overtime, but the Bears had more possession and control of the game. They were the aggressors, and like Coach Lenard said after the game, would have been unlucky to be sent home at the end of overtime.
I say overtime because there is a decent bit of luck when it comes to penalty kicks. Keepers have to guess which way the shot will go, the ball can bounce off the woodwork in weird ways, and players get subbed in cold because they are supposed to be among the best on the team at this specific skill.
And that is where players like Ashlee Zirkle or Kaitlin Swann for Baylor come in.
Let’s run through the events of penalties quickly:
- Texas Tech - Make
- Baylor (Tyler Isgrig) - Saved, low right
- Texas Tech - Make
- Baylor (Olivia Hess) - Make, sent her the wrong way and slotted home left
- Texas Tech - Make
- Baylor (Callie Conrad) - Make, bottom left, beat keeper
- Texas Tech - Miss, off left post Azul went right
- Baylor (Kai Hayes) - Saved, low left
- Texas Tech - Miss, over
- Baylor (Aryanna Jimison) - Make, beat keeper right
- Texas Tech - Make
- Baylor (Theresa McCullough) - Make, bottom right, tipped but still scored
- Texas Tech - Make
- Baylor (Lauren Omholt) - Make, bottom right, sent keeper other way
- Texas Tech - Make, middle high Azul hand to it but still scored
- Baylor (Kaitlin Swann) - Make shot left, keeper right
- Texas Tech - Saved, mid left, Azul was there
- Baylor (Ashlee Zirkel) - Make, high and a little to the right, keeper went low, Bears win
In case that was tough to follow, Baylor fell down with a penalty saved at the start. Later, the Bears missed another in between Texas Tech’s misses off the post and over the top of the goal.
“A couple [of our] top players that typically don't miss had their penalties saved,” said Coach Lenard, “but man … some big-time players stepped up and covered for them and had their back. And that's what this team is all about.”
Those big-time players that stepped up were Kaitlin Swann, who has played sparingly this season, scoring the Bears' sixth penalty. Then, after Azul Alvarez made a clutch save on Texas Tech’s ninth PK, backup goalkeeper Ashlee Zirkel stepped to the spot. With ice in her veins, the senior went top bins for the win.
Cue the dog pile.
Now the Bears wait to see who wins quarterfinal number two between hosts and No. 1 seed TCU and No. 8 seed BYU. Baylor will play the winner on Wednesday at TCU at 4:30 p.m. A win in that semifinal match would send the Bears back to Waco with a shot to win the whole tournament at the friendly confines of Betty Lou Mayes Field.
“I'd rate that as our top goal for the season, being home for the conference championship final and to have an opportunity to win a championship on our home field,” said Coach Lenard, “And we're really grateful that Baylor was willing to host that game. TCU was willing to host the quarterfinals and the semifinals and give our conference more teams into the conference tournament. But the opportunity to be at home and play in front of our home fans for a championship is something that we really aspire to.”
