Jimison's Free Kick Goal Lifts No. 17 Baylor Soccer Past Stubborn Marquette, 1-0

WACO, Texas — No. 17 Baylor Soccer (6-1-0) used a free-kick goal from Aryanna Jimison and a second straight clean sheet from Azul Alvarez and the defense to earn the Bears a 1-0 win over the visiting Marquette Golden Eagles (3-1-3).

For Jimison, the goal was her second of the season and her first free kick goal in her two years in Waco. 

For the Bears, this was their fourth-straight win and the sixth non-conference victory of the campaign, surpassing last season’s five non-league wins. 

The Golden Eagles did not make it easy for the Bears, staying well organized and compact defensively, especially during the first half.

“We knew going in it was going to be hard to break them down,” said Baylor head coach Michelle Lenard after the game. “[They are] very defensively organized, haven't conceded a lot of goals, undefeated. We knew they're physical, they're big, they're athletic. They were gonna make it really difficult for us. So yeah, to find a way — even if we had to grind it out in the end — to find a way to get results is really important right now.”

The Bears threatened to break the game open early with Jimison hitting the left post with a shot from near the penalty arc in just the 2nd minute. 

Ten minutes later, senior winger Theresa McCullough played a nice give-and-go with Jimison before trying to find senior forward Callie Conrad in the Eagles’ six-yard box. A defender barely beat Conrad to the ball to snuff out the chance. 

Marquette settled in for the rest of the half, doing just enough to keep the Bears’ attacks from turning into serious goal-scoring opportunities. 

The visitors used physicality to decent effect, racking up seven first-half fouls. But the Bears did not back down and finished the game with 12 fouls to the Eagles’ 10. 

One particular first-half foul by Marquette would turn into their downfall. Aryanna Jimison was fouled centrally, about five yards above the penalty arc, as she was driving toward goal. 

There wasn’t much of a question if the now-starting midfielder would take the free kick that she earned and shoot directly on goal. Jimison is a danger to score from positions like this in open play as well as from free kicks.

“She can go either direction. She's good with both feet. So she's got a lot of weapons in those moments,” said Coach Lenard. “We were whispering over there on the side, like, ‘Should we tell her to shoot?’ And I was like, ‘It's Ari. She's going to shoot.’”

Aiming for what appeared to be the bottom left corner of the Marquette goal, a lone Eagle defender who was unattached to the left of the main wall deflected the attempt toward the center of the goal. The goalkeeper had already committed, and the ball rolled across the line to put Baylor ahead. 1-0 just 80 seconds before halftime.

“Super important because it changes the feel of the game a little “ said Coach Lenard on how important scoring before halftime was. “They've got to come out and get out of their block a little bit more and take more risk, which is partly what opened up some chances for us …  I really thought we were going to score [in the second half]. I mean, we were all over them for a minute there.”

Despite neither team scoring in the second half, the Bears entertained by generating a host of good goal-scoring opportunities. Baylor sent in nine shots, with five forcing saves by the Marquette keeper. 

Jimison kept creating centrally along with sophomore midfielder Olivia Hess. On the wings, McCullough was joined by speedy senior Lauren Omholt to create the most chaos of the visitors. However, no shot found the back of the net. 

The Bears’ defense, despite a few more mistakes in their build-out play, kept a second-straight clean sheet. 

“We're not giving up a lot of good looks on goal. The biggest problem is we've got to stop giving away free chances on our build-out. Just sloppy stuff that's unforced errors, and we've really got to get through that. We've had enough of those at this point in the season. It's going to catch up with us if we don't clean that up, so we're going to work on that this week.”

And the schedule does not lighten up. Baylor has its final non-conference game on Sunday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, against Oral Roberts before traveling to Morgantown next Friday for the Big 12 opener. 

“We've got to go on the road against another undefeated team [in ORU]. Got to play on turf, which we haven't done all season … They're different than this [Marquette] team. They're much better on the ball. They're much more possession-oriented. They can build. They can solve pressure. Maybe not quite as big and athletic as this team. So a totally different challenge for us.”

Catch the Bears facing off with the other Golden Eagles on Sunday on the Summit League Network at 7 p.m.