SOC Battles in Season-Opening Draw Against TCU - BaylorBears.com

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at Texas Tech

9/18/2020 | 6 P.M.

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Starting four freshmen and two other players coming off injuries, Baylor soccer coach Paul Jobson knew there might be a few rough spots in Friday's season opener against a veteran-dominated TCU team. 
            That's why he wasn't surprised in the least when the visiting Horned Frogs came out and dominated play in the first half, outshooting the Bears, 12-3, and spending most of the period on Baylor's defensive end of the field. 
            Despite a 26-9 disparity in shots for the game, Baylor survived TCU's onslaught and fought through 110 physically demanding minutes in a 0-0 tie at Betty Lou Mays Field. 
            "We grew up a lot in the first 45 minutes," said Jobson, whose team opened the season with a draw for the first time since a 1-1 tie at Rice in 2009. "I was really proud of their resiliency, their ability to keep fighting and scrapping defensively. I told them afterwards, that was probably one of the better TCU teams I've seen in a long time."
            Senior goalkeeper Jennifer Wandt recorded her 26^th career save, moving up to a tie for second all-time with Michelle Kloss and one shy of the school record set by Hall of Famer Dawn Greathouse. 
            Wandt finished with five saves, but also got plenty of help from a back line of Kayley Ables, Sarah Norman and freshmen Sarah Hornyak and Chloe Japic. 
            "I really thought the whole team for the whole 110 minutes did a great job of throwing their body in front of everything," Wandt said, "because sometimes it looked like they were going to have a shot and I was going to have to make a save. But then, Norman would come sliding in and clear it out. It was a really good team defensive game."
            Led by forward Grace Collins and midfielder Yazmeen Ryan, TCU peppered shots at Wandt all night, forcing her to make a diving stop and at least two punch-outs. A preseason All-Big 12 pick, Ryan nearly ended the scoreless tie at the end of the first half, but Wandt was able to deflect it at the last second. 
            "I think in the first half, we were all so nervous and uptight," said freshman forward Mackenzie Anthony. "You could see that we played with more heart in the second half and I just thought we worked together better as a team."
            TCU goalkeeper Emily Alvarado had a quiet first half, with the Bears getting off just three shots and none on goal. But in the first five minutes of the second half, she had to make saves on shots by freshman Gabby Mueller and sophomore Elizabeth Kooiman. 
            "We just built confidence as we realized we could play with them," Jobson said of becoming more aggressive offensively in the second half. "We worked really hard defensively. We had to calm down a little bit on the ball. As the game went on, we were able to do that, and I think that's why you saw a little more success as we moved forward with the game."
            TCU had the only three shots in the first 10-minute overtime period, but the Bears had two of their best scoring chances in the second OT with Alvarado saving a breakaway attempt by Taylor Moon in the eighth minute and then deflecting away a shot by Anthony with 20 seconds left. 
            "I saw 20 seconds on the clock and knew we had to get a shot off," Anthony said. "In the last minute, I was like, 'If I get the ball, I'm turning and shooting.' That was my first instinct, I kept telling myself that. And I got the shot off."
            Jobson said the Bears have a lot to build off going into back-to-back road games at Texas Tech next Friday and Iowa State on Sept. 25. 
            "I told them after the game, I was just really proud of them," Jobson said. "They could have lost heart in that first half. There were times where we were literally struggling to gain our feet, our momentum. Young players, at times, can be defeated. So, credit to our veterans for keeping them energized and believing in them, and them getting right back up and getting after it again."

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – After months of uncertainty surrounding the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Baylor soccer team officially kicked things off Friday night as the Bears recorded a double-overtime scoreless draw against TCU at Betty Lou Mays Field.
 
Baylor is now 16-6-2 all-time in season openers and is 13-2-4 all-time vs. TCU. Seven of the last 10 contests against TCU have gone to overtime. The last time the Bears opened their season with a draw was at Rice in 2009 (1-1).
 
The Horned Frogs came out firing as TCU recorded a pair of shots in the first three minutes. They would go on to outshoot Baylor, 19-5, through regulation, but the Bears ramped up their offensive intensity as the game went on. In the second overtime period, Baylor tied TCU with four shot attempts each. Two of those for the Bears were on goal as Taylor Moon and Mackenzie Anthony each almost ended the match with a golden goal in the final minutes.
 
Moon had a breakaway opportunity in the 108^th minute, but TCU goalkeeper Emily Alvarado made the save. And then it was Anthony with 17 seconds left in the game as the freshman booted it from outside the box, but Alvarado was there with the diving save.
 
Alvarado finished with four saves on the night, while Baylor's goalkeeper Jennifer Wandt had six. The Bears also recorded a team save when Kayley Ables came diving in to knock a shot away in the 16^th minute.
 
Ables, especially, was strong defensively for Baylor as she stifled many of the TCU forwards in the Horned Frogs' attacking third.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Four Bears started their first career collegiate game – Sarah Hornyak, Gabby Mueller, Mackenzie Anthony and Chloe Japic.
• Three more Bears played in their first career collegiate game – Olivia Mack, Abby Schmidt and Chloe Brown.
• TCU outshot the Bears, 26-9 on the night. While Jennifer Wandt finished with five saves on the night, 11 of the other 21 Horned Frog shots were blocked.
• Half of Baylor's four shots on goal on the night came from freshmen – Mueller and Anthony.
• Moon (84) and Elizabeth Kooiman (97) set career highs in minutes.
• Jennifer Wandt is now third all-time in program history in career minutes played with 5,915.
• Baylor played its first game under new LED lights at Betty Lou.

 
STAT OF THE GAME
26 – Friday night marked Jennifer Wandt's 26^th career shutout. She is now tied for second alongside Michelle Kloss (2010, 12-14) and is one shy of matching the program's best mark set by Dawn Greathouse (1997-00).
 
TOP QUOTES
Paul Jobson on the game…
"A couple of things tell the story. I think you've got a really veteran team coming in playing against a young team, and I think you saw that in the first half. I thought we defended well enough in the half to not give up a goal. I would say on top of that, 12 shots in the first half, I would say we grew up a lot in the first 45 minutes, a lot. We weren't getting beat as bad in the second half, just freshman mistakes. They'd never seen the level before, they'd never seen the intensity like that before, and we knew that was probably going to happen. But I was really, really proud of their resiliency, their ability to keep fighting and scrapping defensively. We had some opportunities, which is great, especially with a young group moving forward.
 
Jobson on the defensive effort…
"That's how we want to always defend, to not always rely on one or two players to make plays but everybody. When the ball comes on you and it's your opportunity, can you step up and do it. From that standpoint, I think we looked like a veteran team defensively. You know me, we're going to build our team defensive first. So I thought we defended really, really well. We're young in some spots and made some youth mistakes that. But those kids are smart. They're learning and they learned a lot tonight. We're not going to continue to make those same mistakes, I'm positive of that."
 

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