SOUTH BEND, IN — No. 5 seed Baylor Soccer scrapped their way past the No. 4 seed Wisconsin Badgers in the second round of the NCAA Tournament by a score of 1-0 to secure the program’s third Sweet 16 appearance the last nine years and its first under head coach Michelle Lenard.
Senior midfielder Tyler Isgrig scored the lone goal of the contest from the penalty spot in the final minute of the first half after senior defender Hannah Augustyn bravely drew the call as she attacked a cross.
The Bears came out and gained control early on in the game with Isgrig putting a pair of shots on Fram in the first twenty minutes to set the tone. One of those shots beat the Wisconsin keeper and pinged off of the crossbar back down into play before junior forward Callie Conrad lashed the ball out of play on her follow-up attempt.
Conrad also had a good look at goal when Isgrig slipped her a through ball down the right-center channel. A Badger defender did well to push the Baylor forward wide and the shot went harmlessly into the outside of the goal netting at the near post.
The final minute of the first half was when junior defender Natalie Vatter served a nice cross into the Wisconsin box that Hannah Augustyn jumped to get a header on. Augustyn was promptly undercut by the backside Badger defender who had lost track of the Baylor outside back.
Upon video review, the referee deemed the collision to be a foul in the box and awarded a penalty to the Bears.
Isgrig stepped up and slotted a powerful shot into the right side of the goal. It had too much pace for the Badgers’ keeper to get to it.
1-0 Baylor.
“I just knew, if I just use my power, then I should be okay,” said Isgrig after the game, later adding, “Fun fact, that was my club keeper. So in high school, I went to nationals with her. So I've hit PKs against her a lot of times too… it just kind of felt like back in the day, in a way.”
When the teams came out for the second half, it was clear that the Bears had chosen to play much more defensively, allowing the Badgers to find better scoring chances than they had in the first half.
To the Bears' credit, those chances were snuffed out, and the Badgers were held scoreless for the game.
“As much as we were under pressure, we stayed connected, we stayed organized, we won the duels that we needed to win,” said Baylor head coach Michelle Lenard after the game. “Bend, don't break, right? Sometimes that's the way it's going to be. If the game's 0-0, then they can't play the way that they were playing. So I would have loved to have a little bit more control of that second half, but sometimes you've got to do whatever it takes.”
Things did get particularly nervy towards the end of the game as the Badgers got desperate to keep their season alive. But even a pair of last-minute corner kicks could not deliver an equalizer. Senior Baylor goalkeeper Azul Alvarez punched the last corner kick away as the final horn sounded and the Bears advanced to their first Sweet 16 since 2018.
The Bears now await the winner of the hosting No. 1 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the unseeded Ohio State Buckeyes. That Sweet 16 match is set for Sunday, with further details to be decided.
