SOC Opens Big 12 Play at Kansas State, No. 17 Kansas

Thursday, September 26

Manhattan, KS

7 p.m.

Baylor

Kansas State

Photo by: Baylor Photography

SOC Opens Big 12 Play at Kansas State, No. 17 Kansas

9/25/2019 12:32:00 PM | Soccer

GAME NOTES

Bears look to carry momentum over from last weekend to league action

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Opening defense of just its second Big 12 regular-season championship, Baylor soccer (4-2-3) goes on the road to face Kansas State (2-5-2) and 17^th-ranked Kansas (8-2-0) on a weekend trip to the Sunflower State.
            The Bears are coming off easily their best two-game stretch of the season, tying then-No. 2 USC, 2-2, last Thursday before a golden goal by Raegan Padgett in a 2-1 overtime victory over Gonzaga on Sunday. They face K-State at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Manhattan, then travel to Lawrence to play Kansas at 1 p.m. Sunday.
            "We couldn't be coming off a better weekend," said coach Paul Jobson, the program's all-time wins leader with an 80-41-17 record. "We tied the No. 2 team in the country and had two great results against two great teams heading into conference play.
            "I think we've made some great progress from our exhibitions, where we were kind of wondering what our identity was going to be, what it was going to look like, to really identifying what that is and realizing now it just needs to become consistent."
            Trailing USC 2-0 at the half, Baylor came back to score two second-half goals and had a couple point-blank opportunities at the end of regulation to come away with the win.
            "Last weekend was huge for us," said junior defender Ally Henderson. "The biggest thing it gave us was confidence, and it showed us a new level we can play at."
            Junior goalkeeper Jennifer Wandt had a season-high eight saves against USC and added two more in the OT win over Gonzaga to earn Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors.
            "If you play long enough, you kind of know where people are going," Wandt said. "But, some of it was guessing and making yourself big and hoping they hit you."
Jobson said Wandt's big-time saves in the second overtime weren't that big of a surprise, "because that's the Jen we've been accustomed to. . . . Big players step up in big moments, and that's Jen."
            A fifth-year program that has won just one conference game, K-State tied Arkansas, 3-3, in an exhibition game and has posted wins over South Dakota State and Tulsa. The Wildcats are coming off a 5-0 loss to a BYU team that is now ranked No. 5.
            "The main thing is just what it took to be there, what the mentality was going into those matches (last week) and hoping they remember less about who you're playing than who it is we want to be consistently," Jobson said.
            Laramie Hall and Katie Cramer have combined to score six of K-State's nine goals, while goalkeepers Emma Malsy and Rachel Harris have 46 saves between them and have given up 1.58 goals per game.
"You've got one team (K-State) that has a bad record, but they're fighters and battlers," Jobson said. "They're looking to be the upset queens of the conference, and you can never count them out."
            The stiffer test will come Sunday against a Kansas team that is eighth in the initial RPI rankings with wins over Nebraska, Memphis, Purdue and Northwestern. Senior forward Katie McClure is second in the Big 12 and tied for fourth nationally with nine goals.
            "(Kansas has) a little different mentality," Jobson said. "You're going to face two different types of mentality this weekend, but it will be a great first test for us heading into conference play."
            Baylor will have a strong backing in the two road tests. Henderson, a native of Wichita, Kan., said her pass list for friends and family is "in the 30s."
            "It's a trip that I look forward to every time," Henderson said. "The last time I got to do it was my freshman year. It's really awesome for me. All my family gets to come."
            Wandt said the Bears get a strong following wherever they go, but especially with "Ally's family this weekend."
            "It's so great to have that support system and have people's parents travel across the country, sometimes, just to get out and watch us play," Wandt said. "Usually, home teams have a lot of advantage, and if we get enough fans there, we don't really feel that."
            Following the opening weekend of conference play, Baylor returns home to host West Virginia (5-3-1) at 7 p.m. next Thursday at Betty Lou Mays Field.
            "Our approach is we're going to take every game like it's the most important game," Wandt said. "We're going to get every team's best game, and I think we're just excited for the competition. There isn't one team in this conference that any team can just roll over. I think we're just really excited to have competition and just keep growing as a team."

WACO, Texas – With the non-conference season in the rearview mirror, the Baylor soccer team hits the road to the Sunflower State to open up Big 12 play. The Bears begin league action with a 7 p.m. contest on Thursday at Kansas State before taking on No. 17 Kansas at 1 p.m. Sunday in Lawrence.

Both matches will be televised on the Big 12 Now on ESPN+.

Kansas State is currently 36^th in the nation with 16.4 shots per game. On the season, the Wildcats have three matches with 20 or more shots.

Baylor is 2-0 vs. Kansas State with both victories coming by a final score of 1-0.

After Thursday's contest in Manhattan, Kan., the Bears travel to Lawrence where the nationally ranked Jayhawks await. KU boasts a 14-3-0 record in regular season home games since 2018. Eight different players have found the back of the net for Kansas, led by Katie McClure whose nine goals on the year rank her fourth in the country.

Keep up with the team all season long by following Baylor Soccer on the team's official Twitter (@BaylorFutbol), Facebook (Baylor Soccer), and Instagram (@BaylorFutbol).

MATCH INFO
Thursday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m.
Buser Family Park
Stats: www.BaylorBears.com/stats
Video: Big 12 Now on ESPN+

MATCH INFO
Sunday, Sept. 29 at 1 p.m.
Rock Chalk Park
Stats: www.BaylorBears.com/stats
Video: Big 12 Now on ESPN+

BAYLOR BEARS
2019 Record: 4-2-3
2019 Big 12 Record: 0-0
Head Coach: Paul Jobson
Career: 80-41-17 (7th season)
BU: 80-41-17 (7th season)

KANSAS STATE WILDCATS
2019 Record: 2-5-2
2019 Big 12 Record: 0-0
Head Coach: Mike Dibbini
Career: 37-50-14 (6^th season)
KSU: 16-37-8 (4^th season)

KANSAS JAYHAWKS
2019 Record: 8-2
2019 Big 12 Record: 0-0
Head Coach: Mark Francis
Career: 260-190-35 (24^th season)
KU: 227-165-34 (21^st season)

BIG 12'S BACK. BACK AGAIN.

Baylor kicks off Big 12 play with a road trip to the Sunflower State this weekend. The Bears will face Kansas State at 7 p.m. on Thursday before playing Kansas at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
This is the first time BU has opened conference action against Kansas State.
Baylor is 6-13-4 in Big 12 openers with the most recent win coming by a final score of 2-0 in overtime vs. Oklahoma State in 2015. BU has lost its last two Big 12 openers and ended in a double overtime draw against Texas in 2016.
Overall, BU is 16-23-7 over the opening weekend of conference play.
Only twice has Baylor gone 2-0 to open league action - 2015 (W 1-0, OT vs. Oklahoma State; W, 1-0 at Iowa State) and 1998 (W, 1-0 at Kansas; W, 1-0 at Missouri).

BAYLOR'S BIG WEEKEND

The Bears are coming off an exciting weekend where they wrapped up non-conference play.
In front of a season-high 980 fans, Baylor rallied back from a 2-0 deficit at halftime to finish in a 2-2 draw in double overtime with then-ranked No. 2 USC. It marked an end to the Trojans' 2019 winning streak as USC began the season 7-0.
Junior goalkeeper Jennifer Wandt played out of her mind as she racked up a season's best eight saves. She was one shy of tying her career high she set in 2018 in BU's overtime win at West Virginia.
Sophomores Elena Reyna and Giuliana Cunningham each scored their first goals of the season in the draw.
After logging 110 minutes on Friday, the Bears came back and played 96 more in their 2-1 overtime win Sunday afternoon vs. Gonzaga.
After recording her first assist at Baylor, and first since she was a freshman at Kentucky, Danielle Hayden took no prisoners as she took the ball from BU's defensive half to the top of the box for her first career goal.
Raegan Padgett delivered the golden goal - her second gamewinner of the season - off a cross from a corner kick by Ally Henderson.

THAT'S MY KEEPER

Jennifer Wandt was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week Tuesday morning. Wandt led the league with 10 saves over the weekend, including her eight saves against the Trojans.
It marked the fourth career weekly award for Wandt and Baylor's first of the 2019 season.
Wandt leads the Big 12 with a 0.97 save percentage and is second in total saves with 32.
She is now third in the program record books with 174 career saves behind Ashley Noah (2004-07, 440) and Dawn Greathouse (1997-00, 397).

RPI TRACKER

The first RPI of the season was released on Monday with Baylor checking in at No. 35.
That mark is good for fourth in the Big 12 behind Kansas (8), Oklahoma State (29) and Oklahoma (33).
Rounding out the league is Texas Tech (47), West Virginia (64), TCU (65), Texas (118), Kansas State (121) and Iowa State (153).