By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Michelle Lenard went into Thursday's game against the Kansas Jayhawks saying she wanted her Baylor soccer team to score its first goal in a month
Turns out, she needed three.
Three minutes away from their fifth-straight loss, the Bears (3-6-2, 1-2-0) got a game-tying goal on a header by
Ashley Merrill in the 88
th minute and then beat the visiting Kansas Jayhawks when freshman
Reneta Vargas scored her second goal of the night with 37 seconds left off a corner kick by
Haven Terry and an assist from
Hallie Augustyn.
"I don't know if we've ever needed something as much as we needed that, right now, at this point of the season," said Lenard, whose team won a game for the first time since beating Houston, 3-0, on Sept. 1. "Just big-time moments for a couple of girls at the end there, Ashley and Reneta. What a big day for Reneta. Happy to have her back."
When the final seconds ticked off the clock at Betty Lou Mays Field, the Bears had a celebratory dogpile on Kansas' end of the field, with Vargas and Merrill buried under a heap of bodies.
"I've had a dogpile before, but that was my first time on the very bottom," said Merrill, a transfer from Dallas Baptist that scored her team-best third goal of the season. "It was scary, I felt like I was going to break. But, it was fun."
Vargas, playing in just her second collegiate game after suffering an ankle injury before the start of the season, said the dogpile "was horrible."
"I was screaming," she said. "I was telling them to get off. I kept pushing everyone back."
Merrill, who followed Lenard from DBU, said the game could be a turning point for a team that scored just seven goals in the first 10 games and had already been shut out six times.
"It sets a tone where it's like, 'We can win,''' Merrill said. "We can beat these teams that we're playing. We should beat them. And with this one, it's just going to really set a different tone. I think we needed to win, especially with how the season's going. . . . We've been right there, but we were tired of being just right there."
The Bears broke through with the first goal just 17 minutes into the game, when
Gabby Mueller had a nice run and dished off to Vargas for a one-on-one chance from the left side with Kansas goalkeeper Melania Pasar.
"This is still her at not game-fit or college level speed yet," Lenard said of Vargas. "She understands the game at a high level. A lot of her game is a little bit of street ball. She's able to solve problems in different ways, be creative and just be very intuitive. As she tries to adjust to the speed of the game, the physicality and fitness, she's still able to make a difference because she's clever, she's smart and just gets herself in really good positions.
Less than three minutes later, the Jayhawks (7-6-1, 0-3-1) answered with a goal by freshman Lexi Watts off a corner kick. Tied 1-1 at the half, Kansas took its first lead of the game when Shira Elinav netted her seventh goal of the season off a corner kick by Maree Shinkle just 3 ½ minutes into the second half.
"Came back in the second half and looked really flat the first 10 minutes," Lenard said. "We struggled, we were under pressure there for a while, but our ability to keep grinding, work through it and mentally stay engaged was really impressive at the end of the game. I think we started to switch gears in the middle of the second half."
Seemingly destined to take the loss, the Bears responded to score the equalizer with 2:24 left when Merrill headed in a goal off a corner kick by
Sarah Hornyak.
"As soon as it came off Sarah's foot, I was standing right behind her, I knew," Lenard said. "Ashley doesn't miss in those situations. Big moment for her. She's been knocking on the door and one hadn't fallen for her recently. So, really happy for her to get that goal. I know it means a lot to her."
Merrill said the Bears "wanted it really bad."
"That work from players like Gabby and Sarah to get that ball down the line and grit just to get the ball in," she said. "Everyone celebrating together just brought us so much momentum for the third goal."
They did just that less than two minutes later, when Vargas got the game winner off the corner by Terry.
"It was a great feeling just coming back on the field and playing with my team," Vargas said. "I couldn't do it without my team."
Baylor will finish off the two-game home stand with a matchup against Kansas State (4-7-2, 0-3-1) at 12 p.m. Sunday back at the Betty Lou. On the first leg of a Texas tour, the Wildcats lost to No. 23 Texas, 4-0.
"It's just about continuing to grow and get better," Lenard said. "I'd like to not put ourselves into a deficit. Regardless, every team in the Big 12 is dangerous and make the game scary at any moment. . . . Sunday, K-State's game is going to be a great opportunity for us to build, trying to string together two positive results."
With the Bears picking up three points for the win, they moved from 10
th to 7
th in the Big 12 standings, ahead of a three-team tie with Kansas, K-State and Iowa State at 0-3-1 I the league.
WACO, Texas – Baylor soccer defeated Kansas, 3-2, Thursday night at Betty Lou Mays Field with a thrilling 90
th minute goal.
The Bears came back from a 2-1 deficit to topple Kansas after scoring the game's first goal in the 17
th minute. Freshman
Reneta Vargas netted the first goal, and the first of her career, to put the Bears up 1-0 over the Jayhawks on a cross from
Gabby Mueller.
Less than three minutes later, Kansas answered with the equalizer to knot the game at one a piece heading into halftime.
Coming out strong after halftime, Kansas found the back of the net again in the 49
th minute to push its lead to, 2-1.
Baylor kept getting chances, putting shots on frame, but the real action started in the 88
th minute when
Ashley Merrill headed in her third goal of the season on an assist from
Sarah Hornyak. The Bears weren't done, though. Vargas, with 37 seconds left on the clock, found the back of the net for the second time in the match, on a corner kick from
Haven Terry with an assist from
Hallie Augustyn.
The Bears finished the night with nine corner kicks, five of those in the first half, and nine of their 14 shots on goal.
STAT OF THE MATCH
- Reneta Vargas scored two goal, the first multi-goal game for any Bear this season and the first goal of her career.
HIGHLIGHTS
QUOTABLE
Michelle Lenard on the game …
"It was exciting. I don't know if we've ever needed something as much as we needed that, right now at this point in the season. Super proud of the girls, obviously. Had a good first half, went up early, made a mistake, gave up a goal. Came back in the second half and looked really flat the first 10 minutes. And that's something we've struggled with this season is consistency, but today there was something different. Our ability to keep grinding and work through it and to mentally stay engaged was really impressive at the end of that game. I think we started to switch gears in the middle of the second half, had more pressure on them and then just big-time moments for a couple of girls at the end there, Ashley and Reneta. What a big day for Reneta. Happy to have her back."
Reneta Vargas on her goals …
"I couldn't do it without my team. I've been out for about two months already, so it was a great feeling just coming back on the field and playing with my team. I just couldn't do it without them."
Ashley Merrill on the win …
"It was amazing. I mean, we really needed that goal to tie us up, and I think that we all just wanted it really bad. And that work from players like Gabby (Mueller) and Sarah (Hornyak) to get that ball down the line and grit just to get the ball in. An amazing ball by Sarah, and everyone coming together like that moment after, everyone's celebrating together just brought us so much momentum for the third goal. So, it was awesome."
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears will take on Kansas State Sunday, Oct. 9, at noon at Betty Lou Mays Field to finish out their two-game home stand.
- BaylorBears.com -
