SOC Set to Host Kansas, Kansas State

BAYLOR VS KANSAS
Thursday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m.
Waco, Texas
Betty Lou Mays Field
Video: Big 12 Now ESPN+

BAYLOR VS KANSAS STATE
Sunday, Oct. 9 at 12 p.m.
Waco, Texas
Betty Lou Mays Field
Video: Big 12 Now ESPN+

BAYLOR BEARS
2022 Record: 2-6-2
Head Coach: Michelle Lenard (North Texas, 2003)
Career Record: 203-83-27 (15th season)
BU Record: 2-6-2 (1st season)

KANSAS JAYHAWKS
2022 Record:  7-5-1
Head Coach: Mark Francis (SMU, 1987)
Career Record: 289-213-43 (27th season)
KU Record: 256-188-42 (24th season)

KANSAS STATE WILDCATS
2022 Record:  4-6-2
Head Coach: Mike Dibbini (Kansas Wesleyan, 1999)
Career Record: 51-83-20 (9th season)
KSU Record: 30-70-14 (7th season)

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Despite coming off its fourth-straight loss, first-year head coach Michelle Lenard said Baylor soccer (2-6-2, 0-2-0) gained some momentum in out-shooting now-No. 23 Texas in falling to the Longhorns, 1-0, last Saturday in Austin.
            "Texas is arguably, if not the best, one of the top two teams in the conference," said Lenard, whose team begins a two-game home stand with a matchup against Kansas (7-5-1, 0-2-2) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Betty Lou Mays Field.
            "We went toe-to-toe with them the entire 90 minutes. It may not look like it in terms of our record, but we feel that we're right where we want to be at this point in the season in terms of how we're playing. Now, can that translate into wins?"
            The Bears have also scored just one goal in their last five games and have been shut out six times this season. But, in Saturday's 1-0 loss, Baylor out-shot Texas, 14-11, and finished with a 9-4 edge in shots on goal, holding the Longhorns to their second-fewest shots and shots on goal of the season.
            "After the Texas game, I said, we're trending in the right direction," Lenard said. "We've improved in all the areas we've asked the team to improve in. If you go back and look at last year's game against Texas and this year's game against Texas, the outcomes are different. But, we had more possession than we did last year, we had more shots, we had a higher XG (expected goals).
            "We were just unfortunate not to have a penalty call in our favor. . . . Probably the best play of the game resulted in what we thought was a foul in the box and would have led to a really high-quality chance on goal."
            Senior midfielder Maddie Algya said the statistics from the Texas game "showed that we had some really good stuff going."
            "I think we definitely have some momentum, and now we just need to build off of that," Algya said. "We had some good runs and good shots. It's just, how can we find people the ball and just finish in the final third? That's our main thing now. Just hoping it all comes together."
            Lenard said it helped having freshman forward Morgan Greensage and Reneta Vargas back on the field, even if they only combined for 40 minutes against the Longhorns.
            "I think what both of them have done, probably better than just about anyone else we've played in that position, is their movement off the ball to create opportunities for others is far better," Lenard said. "Both of them are showing up on film.
            "We go back and see a great through ball into the box for Liz Kooiman. That's Reneta's movement to create that opportunity. And then in the last game, Morgan ended up having a really good shot against OU. Unfortunately, she didn't finish, but it was one of the higher-quality chances we've had all season."
             Kansas is still winless in league play, but the Jayhawks jumped out to a 2-0 second-half lead on West Virginia before battling to a 2-2 tie in Morgantown. KU opened with league losses against Oklahoma State (2-0) and 12^th-ranked TCU (1-0).
            "Kansas is an incredibly dynamic team," Baylor goalkeeper Lauren Traywick said. "They went out and a great game against West Virginia. The result from that game, obviously, turns heads. But, nobody in the Big 12 is easy, everyone's hard. This will be a challenge, for sure, but I feel like we can rise to the occasion."
            Since the Jayhawks run a 3-5-3 formation, compared to Baylor's 4-3-3, Lenard said both teams are going to end up with one-on-one matchups on their backline.
            "Nobody really wants that most of the time. You want to have a plus-one I the backline," she said. "But, if they have two center forwards and two wingers high, that's going to be four against our four. And if we have three high against their three defenders, that's three-on-three. So, who's going to stay and who's going to adjust? We're going to hope to force them to have to adjust. And if they don't, we're going to hope to punish them for it."
            The Bears will finish off the weekend with a 12 p.m. game Sunday against Kansas State (4-6-2, 0-2-1), with both games streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+. Thursday's game will feature the popular Baylor Soccer scarf giveaway, while Sunday's game is dubbed "Pups on the Pitch" and will include a corgi race at halftime.

STORY LINES

Baylor will continue conference play this week as they will take on Kansas Thursday, Oct. 6 and Kansas State Sunday, Oct. 9.
The Bears are 12-13-2 all-time against the Jayhawks, falling against them last season in Lawrence, Kansas, 2-1.
The Bears are 4-0-1 against the Wildcats, recording a double overtime, 0-0 draw against them last season in Manhattan, Kansas.
Thursdays match will be the annual scarf giveaway night at Betty Lou Mays Field, while also serving a Mental health Awareness night. Sunday's match will be the annual Pups at the Pitch match, which will feature a corgi race at halftime.
Kansas, who is 0-2-1 in conference play fell against Oklahoma State and then ranked No. 12 TCU before recording a 2-2 draw against West Virginia.
In conference play so far this season, Kansas State opened the season with a 0-0 draw against Iowa State, before falling to Oklahoma State and No. 9 TCU, both games were 1-0 losses.
The Bears are 2-5-2 overall, 0-2-0 in conference play so far this season, coming off of a loss against Texas.
Narrowly losing to the Longhorns last week, the Bears held Texas to just 11 shots, four on goal, the fewest the Longhorns have had this season, aside from a 2-0 loss to No. 1 North Carolina. Senior, Elizabeth Kooiman led the team with five shots, all of them on goal.
After four weeks of playing just one match in a week, BU is back to playing two games per week and will continue in that format for the rest of the season.
Goalkeepers Lauren Traywick and Madison Martin have shared time in goal this season, with Martin getting the start in goal to begin conference play against Oklahoma and Traywick getting the start against Texas last week.
Freshman Morgan Greensage, who was coming back from an injury, played in her first career game against Oklahoma and picked up her first-career start against Texas last week.
Also coming back from injury, Reneta Vargas played her first-career minutes against Texas.
BU has had 26 different players see playing time this season, with 13 of them being newcomers to the team.
Ashley Merrill's two goals and 21 shots, 12 on goal, lead the Bears.
Freshman, Hallie Augustyn earned the Bears first Big 12 weekly award, as she was tabbed the conference's Freshman of the Week for her work against Houston and Iowa on Sept. 6, 2021.
For Gabby Mueller's game winning goal against Florida on Aug. 25, she was named Top Drawer Soccer's National Team of the Week Honorable Mention.
Kayley Ables was the lone Baylor player named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team. A fifth-year senior for the program, she has been a key component to the Baylor backline, aka the "No-Goal Patrol."
Taylor Moon was named a preseason Forward to Watch this season by United Soccer Coaches.
With coach Lenard's new playing philosophy, BU defeated both LSU (3-1) and UTSA (2-1) in preseason exhibition matches with five different Baylor players scoring goals.
The NCAA has done away with overtime during the regular season this year, meaning that every game will end at the end of the 90-minute regulation time.

- BaylorBears.com -

SOC Set to Host Kansas, Kansas State

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Players Mentioned

Kayley Ables

Maddie Algya

Hallie Augustyn

Morgan Greensage

Elizabeth Kooiman

Madison Martin

Ashley Merrill

Taylor Moon

Gabby Mueller

Lauren Traywick

Reneta Vargas

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