Fresh off another climb in the top 25 rankings, No. 7 Baylor Soccer (10-1-1, 3-0-1) is heading to Boulder, Colorado, to face off with the No. 24 Colorado Buffaloes (8-3-1, 2-2-0) in a Big 12 showdown with important implications.
The Bears and Buffs kick off at 8 p.m. Central Time on Thursday night to see if the hosts get knocked well and truly out of the Big 12 title race or if Baylor will fall off the leaders’ pace.
Currently, Baylor is tied with No. 20 BYU and No. 12 Texas Tech atop the Big 12 table.
“I mean, it's a great place to be,” said Baylor head coach Michelle Lenard after the Bears win over Kansas on Sunday. “We have a lot of games left, so we're focused on one game at a time. What matters is where we are at the end of the season, and so we're focused on Colorado. It's going to be a tough trip. Colorado's a good team.”
The Buffaloes have had a consistent presence in the IWSOC top 25 this year and are ranked No. 16 in the nation in RPI. The Bears are No. 6 in the RPI for reference.
Only recently has Colorado slumped, dropping their last two Big 12 games: 3-1 at Texas Tech and 2-0 at UCF.
The Buffs have shown plenty of quality previously, including a 2-0 win over No. 16 West Virginia and a close 3-2 loss earlier this year at No. 2 Michigan State.
Baylor is just the first challenge for Colorado this week, with a stout Kansas squad making its way to Boulder after the Bears.
A week like that is just the opportunity for Colorado to spring back into the thick of things in the Big 12, though. So the Bears are expecting a big challenge and a hard-fought match.
“Going to Colorado too, it's hard with altitude,” said Baylor defender Natalie Vatter. “I’m from Colorado, so I'm so excited. But that's going to be a huge game, and I think having momentum going into that game is super important.”
The Bears are still undefeated in conference, and the 3-1 win last Friday against Kansas was Baylor’s best performance of Big 12 play.
Aryanna Jimison’s brace was instrumental for the Green and Gold and earned the senior attacker Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honors.
But the former Houston transfer will have her work cut out for her if she hopes to repeat the feat on Thursday night in Boulder. The Buffaloes have a pair of preseason All-Big 12 defenders in Faith Leyba (#44) and Caley Swierenga (#7) who play almost every minute of every game.
Not to mention, the Buffs’ attack is spearheaded by two of the top five goal-scorers in the Big 12: midfielder Reagan Kotschau (#33 - 7 goals, 6 assists) and forward Hope Leyba (#45 - 7 goals, 3 assists). Not to mention senior forward Michaela McGowan (#10), who has five goals of her own.
That productive core has helped Colorado outscore opponents 28-11 this season, averaging 2.33 goals per game while allowing just 0.92 goals per game.
The raw stats don’t show a huge difference between the two teams, and the results only point to a tougher schedule to start conference play for the Buffs (specifically the road trips).
So a week at home against two quality opponents is likely being viewed as an opportunity in Boulder; an opportunity to take a conference leader down a peg and jump right back into the thick of things with a six-point weekend.
For the Bears, a loss would hurt, but would really only affect future room for error. A win would be another big step toward winning a conference championship.
“It's exciting,” said Aryanna Jimison on being at the top of the Big 12 after the Kansas game. “But again, there are more games to play. We got a game coming on Thursday that's not going to be an easy match. So, we’ve just got to keep working hard.”
No. 7 Baylor at No. 24 Colorado is set to kick off at 8 p.m. Central Time on ESPN+.
