By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
Deftly avoiding the Gatorade dunking after Baylor soccer's 1-0 win over Texas A&M Friday night at Betty Lou Mays Field, Michelle Lenard showed off the moves she had as a sophomore midfielder at the University of North Texas in 2000.
 
That happens to be the last time the Bears (4-1-0) beat the Aggies (2-2-0), with Tyler Isgrig's game-winning goal in the 85^th minute snapping a 15-game winless streak (0-13-2) in a series that has been dominated by A&M.
 
"I was actually worried that they were going to drop (the bucket) on me, so I was running away," the third-year Baylor head coach said. "I don't trust my son, and he was one of them."
 
Although Baylor dominated the field of play most of the night, out-shooting the Aggies 12-8, the two teams were locked in a scoreless tie until Isgrig got past an A&M defender and launched a left-footed shot from outside the box that found the top right corner of the net, just out of the reach of freshman goalkeeper Sydney Fuller.
 
"I don't think I've ever celebrated that much in my life," said Isgrig, a junior transfer from TCU who recorded her first goal of the season. "As a forward, sometimes you can get a little frustrated. Even though we're winning, sometimes I'm like, 'Am I doing enough?' And you put that pressure on yourself. I was super excited and super proud of everybody for getting me to that moment, because it takes the whole team to get there."
 
Lenard, who picked up arguably her biggest win since coming to Baylor from DBU three years ago, said it was a "big moment for (Isgrig) to show up." After scoring six goals each of the past two years, the junior forward had failed to find the net on her first 14 shots of the season.
 
"We know what Tyler's capable of," Lenard said. "She hasn't been scoring recently, but we knew that was temporary. Tyer's going to score, it's just a matter of time. And she's a big-game player and shows up in these moments. Really happy for her. She's been itching to get a goal, and that was definitely needed."
 
The Bears had plenty of chances, including a shot by Isgrig less than six minutes earlier that Fuller was able to save. But it was her goal with 5:56 left to play that secured Baylor's third-straight 1-0 victory and fourth-consecutive win overall.
 
"This is a really special moment for our program," Lenard said, "because obviously A&M is a fantastic program. They were nationally ranked going into the season. But it's bigger than this game. Today was about us not just winning but deserving to win and controlling large portions of the game and being able to manage it when we did go up.
 
"These are things we've been working on for years. It feels great to beat them, but it feels great just to come out here and feel satisfied at the end of a 90-minute game that we gave our best, that we really deserved to come out on top. It's been a while since I've had that feeling, honestly, in a big match like this."
 
The Aggies weren't done, though. After Isgrig's goal, they had a corner kick and got off two shots in the final minutes, including one by Mia Pante in the 89^th minute that goalkeeper Azul Alvarez stopped for her only save of the night.
 
"Azul is making huge plays," Lenard said of the reigning Big 12 Goalkeeper of the Week. "What we say all the time with goalkeepers is you need to make the saves you're expected to make, and then you need to make one every now and then that's not expected. And that's what Azul has been doing for us. She makes the standard saves, she's reliable, and then she comes up in really big moments."
 
Alvarez and Isgrig were freshman teammates at TCU in 2022, but the redshirt sophomore goalkeeper transferred to Baylor after seeing no game action last year.
 
"I've been waiting for her to get this opportunity," Isgrig said of Azul, who has a scoreless streak of more than 400 minutes since giving up a goal in the third minute of a 1-0 season-opening loss at Mississippi State. "She's definitely showed why she should have been playing these last two years and definitely why we love having her on our team."
 
Lowering her goals-against average to a miserly 0.22 with 17 saves, Alvarez credited a back-line defense that includes Natalie Vatter, Marissa Gray, Ava Colberg and Hallie Augustyn, who Lenard calls "maybe the most underrated player in the conference."
 
"I told each and every one of them, I feel so confident in them," Alvarez said. "Honestly, we would have gotten more shots (against us) if it wasn't for them. They're amazing. You could just see, they give 100% every tackle. They're just very focused, locked-in, and we need that in the back line."
 
Going back on the road, the Bears will face SMU (4-1-0) Thursday night in Dallas and then defending Big Ten Tournament champion Iowa (2-0-2) next Sunday, Sept. 8, before opening league play at home against Oklahoma State (4-0-0) on Sept. 12.



THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – Baylor soccer took down Texas A&M, 1-0, Friday night at Betty Lou Mays Field to secure its first win over the Aggies in 24 years. 
 
The Bears got off to a hot start with Ava Colberg taking the first shot of the game in the 2^nd minute before back-to-back corner kicks for BU, but they weren't able to capitalize. Tyler Isgrig fired off a shot out top of the goal in the 12^th minute, but the Aggie defense kept the Bears at bay. 
 
The Baylor defense was on lock in the first half, only allowing one shot from the Aggies through the first 45. 
 
BU took its best look of the first half in the 35^th minute when a header from Hannah Augustyn went off the crossbar after a free kick from Isgrig. Augustyn also got off the last shot of the first half in the 45^th minute but the Bears weren't able to find the back of the net.
 
Alysiah Lockette took the first shot of the second half in the 58^th minute, which led to a corner kick, but the Aggies still didn't concede a goal. Theresa McCullough took the best look of the second half but a diving save from the A&M goalkeeper kept the ball from the back of the net and gave Baylor another corner kick opportunity. 
 
Texas A&M took four shots through five minutes in the second half but all of them were off target as the Bears kept the Aggies off the board. 
 
The Aggie goalkeeper was forced to make her second save of the match in the 78^th minute after a shot on frame from the boot of Isgrig. 
 
Baylor was finally able to break the scoreless drought in the 85^th minute when Isgrig found her first goal of the season to put the Bears up 1-0. 
 
Alvarez was only forced to make one save in goal, and that came from a shot in the 89^th minute, but BU was able to hold off the threat to secure the victory. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Bears had six players play all 90 minutes
• Ava Colberg made her first start of the season
• BU out-shot A&M 12-8
• The Bears held the Aggies to just one shot on goal
• Tyler Isgrig netted her first goal of the season
• Azul Alvarez picked up her third-straight clean sheet in goal
• This match marked the Bears' first win against Texas A&M since Oct. 1, 2000

Head coach Michelle Lenard on the game …
"This is a really special moment for our program, because A&M is a fantastic program. They're nationally ranked going into the season. Overall record against them, between Baylor and A&M is not in our favor, but it's bigger than this and this game. Ttday was about us, not just winning, but deserving to win, and controlling large portions of the game and being able to manage it when we did go up. These are things we've been working on now for years. It feels great to beat them, but it also feels great just to come out here and feel satisfied at the end of a 90 minute game that we gave our best, that we really deserve to come out on top."

WHAT'S NEXT
Up next, the Bears will head on the road for two matches, first at SMU on Thursday, Sept. 5, before continuing to Iowa City, Iowa, to face the Hawkeyes on Sunday, Sept. 8.