Preview: No. 8 Baylor Soccer Visits No. 11 Texas Tech in Friday Night Fight for First
No. 8 Baylor Soccer is heading to Lubbock to play its highest-leverage game of the season to date against No. 11 Texas Tech on Friday night.
The Bears and Red Raiders are deadlocked at the top of the Big 12 standings with just two games remaining for all teams. If one of these teams wins on Friday night, not only do they take a huge advantage into the final matchday of the regular season, but the loser will need a lot of help just to get a share of the Big 12 title.
If you want to run through the different scenarios, check out our Soccer Updates article and play around with the Standings Machine.
As for this specific matchup, with so much on the line, SicEm365 talked with Baylor head coach Michelle Lenard about the trip to Lubbock and the team waiting for them in West Texas.
“We understand what's on the line, but we also understand that we have to focus on one game at a time. And that's what we've been doing all season. I just reminded [the team] yesterday that this is why we've played such a hard schedule; so that when these moments come, it's not the first time we’ve felt this pressure, we’ve felt this challenge.”
The Bears did well to challenge themselves in the non-conference, going 4-0 against the SEC, including three road games.
Texas Tech has arguably had the tougher schedule in Big 12 play, and the program has the experience of title contention and winning a championship in the last three years.
The Red Raiders have lost one or zero games in conference play each of the last three years. Last year they finished fourth and lost to Baylor in penalty kicks at the Big 12 tournament. In 2024, they finished 2nd in the Big 12 with an 8-1-2 record. And in 2023, they went 8-0-2 on their way to their first regular-season Big 12 championship in program history.
“They've been here before. They're a good team,” said Coach Lenard on Wednesday. “They're well coached. They're athletic. They're hardworking. They've got a good system that works for them, and their players fit really well. We're going to have to play well.”
Looking into the stats, Texas Tech is scoring almost as much as Baylor: 1.88 goals per game vs. Baylor’s 2.00. The Raiders have conceded almost half as many goals on the season: 10 vs. the Bears’ 19. And they have a prolific leading scorer in Taylor Zdrojewski. The senior forward, who wears No. 16 for Tech, has 12 goals and three assists. That is 0.91 goals per 90 minutes, an amazing mark and a testament to the clinical ability of the Bears’ upcoming opponents.
“I think it's going to be a fun game because the two teams play a little bit differently,” said Lenard. “Both want to have the ball, but the way that we attack and the type of players we have are a little bit different. They're heavily structured. They've got really disciplined players, really good work rate, lots of athleticism. We've got, I think, a little bit more creativity, a little bit more ability to play in smaller spaces, and so we're going to have to be disciplined in our transition to defend. We're going to have to do well in our aerial duels. We're going to have to do well in set plays. And then we have to ensure that we can get on the ball enough to create quality chances. We can't do that if they have the ball the whole time. So we have to be effective in our pressing and winning the ball back as well.”
The team that comes out on top on Friday night in Lubbock, if there is one, will be the team that makes the most of the chances they create. In other words, the team that is most clinical and perhaps even a bit lucky on top of that.
“That's how it is,” said Coach Lenard when asked about winning games by fine margins lately. “One, at this point in the season [and] two, in a top conference like the Big 12, every game feels like a championship game. Every team is fighting for their life at this point in the season. You know, we're trying to be in a position to compete for a championship next week … There's a lot of weight, and everybody's bringing their best because you have no choice but to play your best at this point in the season. And so it's going to come down to some of those [key] moments, and I'd like us to be a little bit more tidy in some of those moments.”
Coaches and players will always want to find that extra one percent of performance, so Lenard’s sentiment is not cause for concern. That has been the coach’s general outlook for much of this season. Overall, the Baylor head coach is happy with how her team is approaching the big game.
“We feel adequately prepared right now. It's just about managing their bodies, managing their minds, making sure they go into the game on Friday feeling fresh.”
And while the managing of minds will try to keep bigger picture stuff like rankings and seeding off of the players’ radars, the coaching staff is on top of those things and knows what the team needs. Home field advantage through the first few rounds of the NCAA Tournament can still be earned with more wins over good teams. Luckily, that aligns with the only thing on Baylor Soccer’s minds.
“Our ultimate goal is to win a Big 12 championship, and to do that, we need to win these games. And if we do that, then we probably maybe jump back into the top eight in the committee ranking. I mean, we're No. 7 in the RPI, so you could certainly make an argument for us if we beat another team who's in the top 10 as well. So if we win the games we need to win to win a championship, then we're going to position ourselves to be hosting NCAA tournament games or multiple rounds … we don't focus on that. We focus on the game that's in front of us, and that's Texas Tech. We're not going to hang the entire season on this one game. Like it's just one game. We have to focus on this one game. Do the best we can in this one game. Put ourselves in a position to win.”
Bears at Red Raiders kicks off at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ on Friday night. Baylor Football at UCF kicks off at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN, and Volleyball hosts TCU in Waco at 7 p.m. (ESPN+), so plan accordingly.
