SOC Readies for Contests Against No. 16 Texas, UTSA

Thursday, September 14

Waco, Texas

7 PM

Baylor

#16 Texas

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SOC Readies for Contests Against No. 16 Texas, UTSA

9/13/2023 2:30:00 PM | Soccer

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Bears host Longhorns in conference opener, face Roadrunners for last nonconference matchup

BAYLOR vs. TEXAS
Thursday, Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. CT
Betty Lou Mays Field
Video: Big 12 Now ESPN+

BAYLOR vs UTSA
Sunday, Sept. 17 at 6 p.m. CT
Betty Lou Mays Field
Video: Big 12 Now ESPN+

BAYLOR BEARS (4-2-1)
Head Coach: Michelle Lenard (North Texas, 2003)
Career Record: 209-90-28 (16th season)
BU Record: 8-13-3 (2nd season)

TEXAS LONGHORNS (6-1-1)
Head Coach: Angela Kelly (North Carolina, 1994)
Career Record: 284-154-51 (24th season)
UT Record: 124-70-31 (12th season)

UTSA ROADRUNNERS (5-2-1)
Head Coach: Derek Pittman (Tusla, 1998)
Career Record: 95-104-31 (13th season)
UTSA Record: 44-37-13 (6th season)

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            In the last Big 12 regular-season matchup against Texas, Baylor soccer (4-2-1) will host the 16^th-ranked Longhorns (6-1-1) in the "Go Gold" game at 7 p.m. Thursday at Betty Lou Mays Field.
            Headed to the SEC in 2024-25, Texas comes in with a five-game unbeaten streak that includes Sunday's 0-0 tie against then-No. 23 Gonzaga in Austin. The Longhorns have faced only one Power 5 team this season, losing to LSU 3-1, and have played just one game on the road.
            Including exhibition play, the Bears have gone against four Power 5 teams already and played five games on the road. They bounced back from a 2-1 loss to SMU with a 7-0 blowout of Abilene Christian on Sunday, with Ashley Merrill recording the program's first hat trick in 2 ½ years.
            "They have scored a ton of goals this year (35) and they're probably feeling pretty confident," Baylor coach Michelle Lenard said of Texas. "But maybe they haven't seen as many quality opponents as we have. I'm hoping that plays in our favor that we've played a little bit of a tougher schedule and gotten ourselves ready. They've seen film, but it's one thing to see film and one thing to face it. I think we have far more attacking threats than we did last year."
            The Longhorns have a pair of double-digit goal scorers in Lexi Missimo and Trinity Byars with 10 apiece, while Jilly Shimkin has added three goals and five assists. Missimo also has a national-best 15 assists, one off the single-season school record, through just eight games.
            "They've got three really good attacking players, but everybody knows who the two are (Byars and Missimo), who are their primary mode of creating opportunities offensively," Lenard said. "(Shimkin) is also very good All three of them were last year and we know what they're like. Some of our new players played with them growing up, so I don't think there's necessarily anything new there."
            With Sunday's seven goals, Baylor has already scored more goals (17) in seven games than the Bears did last year in 17 games (15). Eight different players have netted goals, including Merrill and TCU transfer Tyler Isgrig with six and four, respectively.
            Merrill, who had her second-career hat trick and first at Baylor, was in the huddle after scoring her third second-half goal in less than four minutes and said, "What is happening?"
            "Obviously, a great ball from Skye (Leach) and two great balls from Tyler, basically teeing me up," Merrill said. "I told everyone, they just teed me up and I finished it."
            After getting off a season-high 25 shots, including 15 on goal, the Bears are "not as likely to have as many good opportunities (against Texas) as we did in that game," Lenard said.
            "But being able to create a lot of good opportunities, connecting those moments and put the ball in the back of the net, definitely is a confidence-builder for our attack," she said. "We've been in really good situations all season long and haven't quite been able to get it to click in the way that we felt like it could.
            "Abilene Christian might not be a Power 5 school, but they hadn't given up anywhere near that number of goals. For us to be able to break them down that often and score some great goals shows that the work we've been putting in is starting to pay off at the right time leading into conference play."
            With Oklahoma transfer Makinzie Short and sophomore Ashlee Zirkel splitting time in goal, Baylor has also posted more shutouts than last year (4-3) and has allowed the second-fewest goals in the Big 12 (5). Short went the distance in Sunday's shutout of ACU and had a season-high nine saves in a 2-1 loss to Nebraska, while Zirkel has combined on a pair of shutouts and had five saves in last Thursday's 2-1 loss to SMU.
            "My backline is my confidence," Zirkel said. "Seeing my game against A&M (five saves in a 1-1 tie) and how much they've helped me out through that has been very confidence-building. . . . I make a save at practice, and they're like, 'That's awesome!' And I'm like, 'It's just a save.' But I think that confidence they give back to me is what lets me get through the game."
            Lenard said she will continue to use both goalkeepers, "depending on who we're playing."
            "Ashlee is super athletic, very fast, really good off her line, really good with her feet," she said. "Those are all qualities that we feel are going to be needed and beneficial for us playing against Texas, with a team that looks to slip balls through the backline and use their pace and athleticism to get in behind the backline. It allows us to play her a little higher off the line. But if we decide to put Kinzie in at any point, I feel very good about her being out there."
            Baylor continues a six-game homestand with a matchup against UTSA (5-2-1) at 6 p.m. Sunday and will host top-ranked BYU (7-0-0) at 7 p.m. next Thursday, Sept. 21, with all three games streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+.

STORY LINES

Baylor soccer will host Texas in its conference opener on Thursday, Sept. 14, before facing UTSA at home in its last nonconference matchup Sunday, Sept. 17, at Betty Lou Mays Field.
Thursday's conference opener will be the annual Go Gold night at Betty Lou, where fans are encouraged to wear gold gear. There will be a football sideline experience drawing, gold rally towel giveaway and free Kona Ice for the first 50 students at the match.
The 2023 season marks the 27th season of the Baylor Soccer program. During that time, BU has won four Big 12 titles, advanced to two Elite Eights and had four All-Americans to go with countless All-Big 12 and Academic All-Big 12 honorees.
This season also marks the second year of the Michelle Lenard coaching era, as she was selected as the Bears sixth head coach in program history in December of 2021.
With the new Big 12 teams joining the conference this season, the Bears will only play 10 of the 13 other opponents this season. The Bears will face all four of the new schools, Cincinnati, UCF, Houston and BYU. BU will not face Oklahoma, Oklahoma State or West Virginia in regular season play.
The Bears are off to their best start to a season since the 2018 campaign, sporting a 4-2-1 record.
Through the first seven games of the season, the Bears have compiled shutout wins and are outscoring opponents, 17-5. BU's 17 goals through the first seven games is also the most since the 2018 season when the Bears had 19 to start the season.
Eight different players have scored this season as Baylor has used a balanced offensive attack and a stifling defensive effort to total 17 goals and four shutouts.
Three of the Bears first four goals this season were scored by newcomers, freshman Skylar Zinnecker and Callie Conrad and another from transfer Tyler Isgrig. Conrad also recorded an assist in the first week of play, making her the first freshman to score points in the in each of the Bears first two games of a season since Maddie Algya and Taylor Moon did so in 2018.
Goalkeepers Makinzie Short and Ashlee Zirkel have split time in goal this season.
The Bears faced both SMU and ACU last week, going 1-1 with a dominant, 7-0, win over the Wildcats on Sunday.
BU's seven goals against ACU was the first seven-goal game since Sept. 18, 2016, when the Bears beat Jackson State at home, 7-0.
In the Bears win over ACU, Ashley Merrill recorded the first hat trick for the Bears, since Taylor Moon did so on March 27, 2021, vs Louisiana. She now ties Baylor records with three second-half goals and six second-half points. Her three goals in under four minutes is the fastest hat trick in Baylor soccer history. She also has now scored in four of the past five games for the Bears and ranks in the top-25 in the country with six goals on the season.
Tyler Isgrig leads the Bears so far this season with points (13), after netting two more goals last week and adding two assists. Merrill follows closly behind with 12 points off of a team leading six goals.
Micah Bealsey and Natalie Vatter netted their first career goals last week.
In the past 50 games at home, Baylor has a record of 30-13-9, that's good for a .663 winning percentage that dates back to the end of the 2017 season.
BU is 9-17-5 all-time against Texas, with the last meeting last year in Austin where the Bears fell. 1-0. Seventeen of the Bears last 18 contests against the Longhorns have been decided by one goal or less.
The Bears are 10-0-1 against UTSA, with the last contest on Sept. 1, 2017, when BU won 1-0. The Bears unbeaten streak against the Roadrunners dates back to 2006, with the lone tie occurring during the 2007 season.