After a 3-1 loss to Texas State, Baylor Soccer dropped back out of the IWSOC/USC Top 25. Here are some of my thoughts and takeaways from Sunday’s game. The Bears travel to yet another in-state foe, Texas, on Thursday. On Sunday, Baylor hosts Pepperdine at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) and entry is free as always.
» Texas State did a great job forcing Baylor to attack down the wings or send balls over the top. The Bobcats got Baylor to be less like themselves and play more directly by taking away progression through the midfield. The Bears were not good enough at creating goal-scoring chances from the wings on Sunday night. Props to Texas State for getting Baylor out of its comfort zone.
» The times that Baylor did find space in the middle during build-up, they were closed down quickly and made a higher-than-normal amount of bad passes and turnovers. Baylor has a lot more quality than they showed. It was simply not the night for the midfield in transition.
» The Texas State high press had a lot to do with Baylor’s issues. They closed the center backs and defensive midfielder Taylor Evans down quickly and effectively, making the Baylor defense pass horizontally more than vertically until the ball was played out wide. This kept Bohannon and Hess from having consistent possession in positions where they could start pulling the strings and picking apart the Bobcats.
» On to the Texas State goals. The first and third goals came from similar situations in that two ill-advised attempts at playing a pass into the middle of the field by Bella James turned into turnovers. Whether it was an awareness issue, patience issue or something else, this has to be cleaned up. James was not the only one to make mistakes of this sort, but these two specifically led to goals. James should bounce back and has otherwise shown the quality needed to be a starter and win games with this team. It was just a bad night across the board for the Bears; more on that later.
» Add in the second goal that Texas State scored — a redirected shot from the second ball of a free kick at midfield — and I’m left with less concern for the new defense’s ability to defend in open play than you would think after a 3-1 loss. The goals Baylor gave up raise concern for mentality and being locked in, but not about Baylor's physical capability to defend. Texas A&M’s goal is the worst goal the Bears have conceded in that regard. Unless the bad passes become a common occurrence for Baylor, then I trust Michelle to get her team right.
» Azul Alvarez has to be less aggressive in helping the build-out. She needs to stay closer to goal, especially after the first one. She’s still a great keeper; one of the best in the NCAA. So it's like we have Women’s College Soccer’s Manuel Neuer on our hands or something. Limit the maddening mistakes far from goal, and there isn’t a lot else to worry about.
» At the end of the day, you really do just have to tip your hat to the two long-range goals. Those aren’t easy to hit, especially the one from the edge of the center circle. Helen Alormenu capitalized on her chances and really stuck it to Baylor.
» Now for a couple of positives: First, Lauren Omholt stayed in good form going forward. The quick reply to Texas State’s opener was huge for the Bears at that point in the game. With that second goal in three games, Omholt now has more goals than she did last year, and she is one point shy of her point total from last year too. There are still areas to improve, but on a rough night for the Bears, Omholt was a bright spot.
» Olivia Hess. For being marked out of the game to a large degree, Hess made the most of her touches in the final third. Just look at these two chances:
Those are great shots that on a lot of other nights become two goals. Baylor really could have used the first half effort to get out to a lead, but such is life. Hess found a way to impact the game on what looked like a tough night for her.
» After the game, Michelle Lenard said, “It's rare that everybody plays their best game on the same day, and it's rare that everybody plays their worst game on the same day. And I think today we had that day where we just didn't have anyone have a very good game.” What I saw largely backs this up. With green and gold goggles on, most of the Bears had a bad night, and it took two very poor mistakes being converted with low-percentage shots to create the Bears’ two-goal deficit. The Bears have to learn more ways to tactically solve what Texas State did to them, but plenty of games do just come down to moments of individual brilliance, and Baylor was very short on those in a way that hopefully will not happen again this season.
» Baylor visits Austin to play Texas on Thursday night (7 p.m. SECN) before hosting Pepperdine on Sunday (7 p.m. ESPN+). Maybe a typical two-game week is what the Bears need to lock back in. While I don’t think the Bears would have been happy with any loss in the first three, the two wins they have are still good, and they can add two more good results to their NCAA resume. There is opportunity to be capitalized on here. Plus, it’s always nice to beat the Longhorns in any sport.
