By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

At 5-foot-11, with an even wider wingspan, Baylor freshman Sarah King would look at home on the basketball floor next to Lady Bear All-American forward Nina Davis.

Instead, she towers over most of her soccer teammates and is head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the Big 12 with eight assists through the first 10 games this season.

"She has a great dynamic of being good in the air, she's got great height and she's got great speed," Baylor coach Paul Jobson said of King, whose eight assists are tied for the fourth-most by a freshman in program history and the most in 18 years. "You don't always see the height and the speed go together. She has all those attributes. And on top of that, she has the mentality to bring all that together."

King is part of a talented freshman class that has produced 14 of the team's 25 goals in helping the Bears (5-4-1) win five in a row going into Friday's Big 12 opener at home against Oklahoma State (5-4-0).

"I think we all hoped that we could jump right in and get adjusted to the team and play a little bit, if not crack the starting lineup," she said. "I think it's a little bit surprising to us that we could play this much and have as big an impact as we have. But it's been good."

It shouldn't come as a total surprise that King is one of two freshmen that have started every game. Named a first-team Winter All-American by TopDrawerSoccer.com in 2014, King scored 22 of Coppell High School's 31 goals as a junior and followed that up with a school-record 33 goals and 23 assists for the undefeated 6A state champions (28-0-3) in the spring.

"It was incredible," said King, who scored the first goal and earned MVP honors in a 3-0 win over Highland Park in the championship game. "Obviously, the competition in high school isn't as good a caliber as club is, but it was still a big accomplishment. We went out and dominated throughout the season. . . . I was just blessed to go to a high school with a really good soccer team."

At the club level, King played for the ECNL Dallas Texans the last three years and received MVP honors at the National Elite Soccer Tournament twice.

"I think (club soccer) completely prepared me (for college)," she said. "High school soccer is just getting touches on the ball, not really developing skills. But I think I really developed all-around through club soccer."

Bringing in 16 newcomers, including 14 true freshmen, Jobson knew he would have to throw some of them into the fire early "so that by the time conference came around, they'd have 10 games of experience under their belts."

"We knew that if we were going to get goals, it was probably going to have to be from the young kids," Jobson said. "That's why the first four games were somewhat nerve-racking. It was like, 'You guys can score, you're creating opportunities, it will happen.' But for them to have the maturity â '¬" and I think some of it comes from our leadership, too, of just saying, 'Hey, you're all right.' â '¬" has been pretty big for us."

King scored the only goal in a 2-1 loss at Purdue, but she has really stepped up big in the team's five-game winning streak. Earning Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors last week, she assisted on one of fellow freshman Julie James' two goals in a 2-0 win over Northern Illinois and followed that up with a goal and school record-tying three assists in the 8-0 blowout of UTSA that clinched the Baylor Tournament title.

"We lost games (early), but we were right there," she said. "And I think now it's just working on that last piece of finishing off the game, not making any mental errors or letting up for just one second, where the other team can come through. But I think we're definitely headed on the right track."

Last weekend, King added to her Big 12 lead with two assists in a 2-1 win over Air Force and then assisted on the game-winner by freshman Lauren Piercy in a 2-0 victory at Colorado College. She has three more assists than any other player in the league and is just four shy of the freshman school record set by Hall of Famer Courtney Saunders in 1996.

"The great thing about Sarah is she hasn't peaked yet," Jobson said. "I think Sarah has way more to offer in her career than what she's even showing right now. I can't wait to see where she is by the end of this season and continue to develop her at this level and see what she can turn into. She's got a lot to offer."

DID YOU KNOW?
King made the varsity basketball team as a freshman at Coppell High School, earning all-district honors. Her father, John King, played basketball at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, "so it was always something I had played since I was little. But it came a point when I had to choose between the two, and I chose soccer because I thought that was the thing that would get me through college. Basketball was fun. I just enjoyed playing soccer more."