vs Arizona • Oct. 30, 2024 • 2:30 p.m. CT • Watch: ESPN+ • Kansas City, Mo. • CPKC Stadium

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
WACO, Texas – Other than maybe having to play one more game than the top four seeds, the 10th-seeded Baylor soccer team (7-7-5) goes into the Big 12 Championship on the same footing as the rest of the 12-team field at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
 
The Bears grabbed the 10^th spot with a 1-1 tie against Iowa State in Friday's regular-season finale and will face seventh-seeded Arizona (11-5-2) in an opening-round game at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
 
"Wish it didn't have to come down to the wire. We made it harder on ourselves than it needed to be," said third-year coach Michelle Lenard, whose team qualified for the Big 12 tournament for the second-straight year. "But in the end, we did what we needed to do to secure a spot and give ourselves a chance. And now, the season starts over for everybody."
 
While it's a clean slate, junior midfielder Skye Leach said the Bears can "also take in what we've learned from the season because obviously we've grown a lot from the beginning."
 
"We've had some good wins and then losses that we can learn from," said Leach, who scored her first-career goal when she got the equalizer against Iowa State in the 85^th minute. "I think it's just a good reminder. People say, it's a new season, anything can happen. So, I think it's a good attitude to remember that. But also to know that there's no holding back, like play every game like it's your last."
 
Lenard said that's been the Bears' approach all season but particularly in Friday's game at Iowa State, which could have been their last.
 
"We've already dealt with those emotions," she said. "We've already played a game with those expectations and that fear that can creep in. So, I think that's good that we survived that moment and that we had to deal with those emotions already.
 
"We've been focused all season on treating each game like it's a final. And that's really what these are at this point. I feel like we're ready for this moment. We don't have to change a whole lot. We just have to execute at a higher level."
 
Winless since a dominant 4-0 victory over Arizona State on Oct. 10 (0-2-2), Baylor is facing an Arizona team riding a two-game winning streak. The Wildcats routed Kansas State, 5-1, before squeaking by their in-state rivals, 1-0, on Friday in Tempe.
 
It's been six weeks since the Bears fell to the Wildcats, 1-0, in Waco on a second-half goal. Baylor was outshot 21-11 but had plenty of chances in the final minutes of the game.
 
"I think the good news is we did not play that well against them," Lenard said, "and the game was 1-0, and we had a bad first half. We made some good halftime adjustments. We had a pretty solid second half. I thought we were unlucky to not score in that second half. We were all over them toward the end of the game."
 
A second-team All-Big 12 pick, along with forward Nicole Dalin and defender Aranda Hurge, senior midfielder Gianna Christiansen leads Arizona with 12 goals and seven assists on the season and scored the lone goal in the win over Baylor.
 
Junior forward Tyler Isgrig, who leads the Bears with six goals and seven assists, was Baylor's first All-Big 12 second-team pick in three years.
 
"I think our focus is win the next game," said Lenard, whose team would face 14^th-ranked and second-seeded Texas Tech (13-3-2) with a win in Wednesday's first-round matchup. "As far as getting in (the NCAA tournament), I don't know that we have to win the whole thing, but we do have to beat a couple of teams that are ranked pretty high. I think two wins would put us in a really good position and give us an outside chance."
 
Baylor's best chance, obviously, is to get to next Saturday's final and win the Big 12 Championship and grab the league's automatic berth.
 
"I feel like you can think about November 9 and winning the whole thing," said midfielder Kai Hayes, a grad transfer from North Carolina, "but that doesn't matter until you cous on what's ahead and stay in the present."
 
Wednesday's schedule was moved up because of expected bad weather later in the day. If the Bears advance, they would face Texas Tech at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the quarterfinals.


STORY LINES

• Baylor soccer heads to the 2024 Sprouts Farmers market Big 12 Soccer Championship in Kansas City as the No. 10 seed and will play No. 7 seed Arizona on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at CPKC Stadium. 
• The postseason Big 12 soccer event returns to Kansas City, Missouri at CPKC Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Current, after spending three seasons in Round Rock, Texas. 
• The 2024 season marks the 28th 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 third 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 11 of the 15 other opponents this season. The Bears will face all four of the new schools, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah. BU will not face Cincinnati, UCF, Kansas or Kansas State in regular season play.
• The Bears are 7-7-5 on the season, with four of BU's losses coming against ranked or receiving votes opponents (No. 18 Mississippi State, No. 22 Iowa, No. 15 Oklahoma State and RV Texas Tech). The Bears most recently recorded a 1-1 draw against Iowa State, to end the regular season at No. 10 in the Big 12 standings. 
• Baylor has a 33 person roster this season and features 25 returners and eight newcomers. 
• Returning to the squad for the first time since the 2022 season in fifth-year Marissa Gray. After working for the past year and applying to PT school, Gray re-joined the Bears to use her fifth year of eligibility. She hasn't seen playing time since the 2019 season due to injury but returns to the pitch as a veteran on the backline. 
• This season the Bears roster features two international student-athletes for the first time since the 2017 season. Salma Simonin returns to Baylor from Manchester, United Kingdom and Hilary Washington joins the Bears from Wellesley, Ontario, Canada.
• Tyler Isgrig leads the Bears so far this season in points with 19, off of six goals and seven assists. She has played the fifth most minutes so far this season (1449). 
• The junior forward, Isgrig, currently sits at fifth in most career assists in BU's record books with 19 so far with assists from both TCU and Baylor. Isgrig's six goals on the season ties a career-high for most goals in a season. She has totaled six goals in each of the three seasons of her career. 
• Joining Isgrig with multiple goals this season are Ashley Merrill, Hallie Augustyn, Hannah Augustyn and Callie Conrad, while Kai Hayes and Skye Leach have one goal each. BU has two team goals this year from own goals, including one against Colorado.
• Skye Leach scored for first-career goal in the Bears' 1-1 tie against Iowa State, as she found the back of the net unassisted to score the equalizer in the 85th minute. 
• In the Bears' 4-0 win over Arizona State, four different Bears scored for the second time this season. It also marks the first time since 2019 the Bears have scored four or more goals in three games in a season.
• Azul Alvarez has posted five shutout wins this season, with a career-high 10 saves in the Bears' 3-3 tie against BYU. 
• Alvarez and Conrad have picked up the Bears' only Big 12 conference weekly award so far this season, being named Goalkeeper and Offensive Player of the Week (8/28). 
• BU will face Arizona for the second time this season, after falling to the Wildcats, 1-0, during the regular season. 
• Baylor is looking for its first Big 12 title since 2017 when it takes the field in Kansas City. The Bears have had success in the Big 12 Championship over the years, posting a 15-15-1 record over the years. BU ranks third in the Big 12 in total wins in the Big 12 Tournament history. Only Texas A&M and Nebraska have more Big 12 Tournament victories in their history.