Preview: No. 11 Baylor Soccer Hosts Oklahoma State for First Big 12 Home Game of 2026

No. 11 Baylor Soccer (7-1-1) is coming off a draw at No. 10 West Virginia in its Big 12 opener, and is looking to get back in the win column with an upset-minded Oklahoma State squad coming to Waco for a Thursday night showdown.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Baylor and WVU are still the highest-ranked teams in the Big 12 both in RPI and the IWSOC poll. Baylor is 10th in the RPI, and WVU is 13th.
   
• Half of the league drew their first Big 12 game, including all of the preseason favorites except for No. 13 Colorado.
   
• Oklahoma State upset then No. 20 TCU 3-1 despite being outshot 25-8. More on that from Michelle Lenard later.
   
• Oklahoma State will let Baylor have more possession, preferring to sit in a low block and strike with counterattacks.
   
• The Cowgirls are 83rd in RPI, have scored 22 goals and conceded 10, so nothing great but not terrible either.
   
• The Cowgirls' two losses are to their SEC opponents Oklahoma (2-0) and Mississippi State (4-1). Those two SEC teams look to be better than three of the Bears 4 SEC opponents and about even with Texas. 
   
• Baylor midfielder Noelle Sather has returned from the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland, where she played for Canada. Sather has missed the last seven games for Baylor.

Michelle Lenard was kind enough to give some of her time on Tuesday to talk about the draw with WVU, re-integrating Noelle Sather with the team, and the matchup with the Pokes. Here are the most important quotes:

On the Bears’ defensive performance in Morgantown:

“I thought our backline defensively had the best game they've had, and they had to because they were in a lot of difficult situations caused by either our broken-down press or our midfield getting beat. So we've been talking about that this week and working on some of those things.”

On the WVU result overall:

“It was really unfortunate the way that it all came down at the end because they had played really, really well. But it was nice to see them come together and lock down such a dangerous team. Now offensively, we need to be a little better earlier in that game, but they also had a better second half offensively in possession and ball circulation, and solving pressure was much better from them as well.”

On starting slow against WVU:

“We can't start slow like that again, though. We know that's the second or third game we've done that this season, and we're gonna have a hard time climbing out of too many holes like that.”

On working Noelle Sather back into the team:

“We've got to make sure that she's rested and back on Central Time and getting enough sleep … Priority is for her to be healthy and not get injured because we rush it. I do anticipate that she should be able to play coming off the bench, probably limited minutes, as we want to adjust her back”

On the importance of getting Sather back:

“Our midfield's getting a little stretched right now. We need to be able to rotate a little bit better, and she allows us to do that. She gives us some qualities maybe some of the other players don't necessarily possess. So it just helps balance that midfield position group out a little bit better as well, so we missed her. We wish she hadn't been gone so much, but we did pretty well without her. And I know that we're just going to be better with her back.”

On Oklahoma State:

“Before they played TCU, they really only had one other tough opponent, and that was Mississippi State. And so they have a lot of wins, not the same level of opponents that we've played at this point… what Oklahoma State did show was that they could withstand that pressure. They can play in a low block. They're disciplined. They're hardworking, and they can hurt in counterattacks. And that's where we're going to have to be really careful: not to get countered.”

On the wide-open Big 12 race:

“All the top teams except for maybe Colorado tied or lost … You don't have much room in your schedule for maybe one loss and two ties. Beyond that, I think you could lose a game and tie two and still finish in first in this league because of what we just witnessed … certainly going to be a pretty wide-open chase, probably right up till the last game of the season.”