The Baylor soccer team (7-1-1) will look to continue its five-game unbeaten streak, hitting the road to open Big 12 Conference play this weekend. The Bears will face No. 13 Oklahoma State (7-1-1) on Friday at 7:00 p.m., then travel to Oklahoma (4-3-1) for a Sunday matchup at 5:00 p.m.
"This begins a whole, new season for us," head coach Marci Jobson said. "We have to take our game to a new level to match the intensity that is needed in conference play, especially on the road. We are all very excited and ready to go."
Baylor, which is opening conference play on the road for the first time since 2005, is off to one of its best starts in program history. The Bears have won seven of their first nine games for the first time since the 1999 squad went 7-2 through the first nine contests. Baylor has shut out its opponent in eight of nine contests thus far, making it the most shutouts since the 1998 team posted 11. The Bears have outscored their opponents 31-3 so far and are led by a pair of sophomores, Lisa Sliwinski (6 goals, 4 assists) and Hanna Gilmore (5 goals, 4 assists) who have both posted career-high marks so far.
The Bears head into the weekend leading the country in shutout percentage (0.889) and are in fourth in goals against average (0.325) and scoring offense (3.44 goals/game).
OSU enters the weekend on a six-game unbeaten streak and are third in the conference with a 0.53 GAA. The Cowgirls rank third in the Big 12 with 20 goals on the season, while junior Krista Lopez leads the way with a league-high seven goals. OSU is 7-5-2 all time against BU and has not lost to the Bears since 2001, compiling a 7-0-1 record since a 2001 loss in Waco.
The Sooners are coming off a split last weekend that started with a 4-1 loss at then-No. 25 USC on Friday, but bounced back with a 1-0 win at UCSB on Sunday. Oklahoma leads the all-time series, 6-4-3 after the two teams tied, 0-0 on Oct. 30, 2009.
