Bears embrace ‘aerial attack’ in shutout over Houston
The Baylor soccer team picked up its first conference win Sunday afternoon, blanking the Houston Cougars, 4-0, at Betty Lou Mays Field to swing the momentum away from Thursday's loss to Arizona.
Both squads were on the hunt for points, but it was the Bears (6-4-1, 1-2) that headlined their way to victory with three goals coming off the top of their heads.
"We have been yelled at a lot the past few weeks that we haven't had conviction in the air, so I think aerial challenges were a big one," said senior midfielder Ashley Merrill, who secured the 3-0 edge for the green and gold. "We showed that we can head the ball, but now we got a new standard because we can head the ball in a game, so now we got win more of those challenges."
After coming out passive against the Wildcats on Thursday night, Baylor put on an aggressive push from start to finish against the Cougars (3-5-1, 0-3). The Bears took the advantage with a pair of goals in the first half, scoring in the first 45 for the first time since their road trip to Hawaii.
"We wanted to come out with an aggressive, attacking mindset and I think we did that," said head coach Michelle Lenard. "It took us a minute to put one in the back of the net but after we started scoring in the first half, our challenge at halftime was 'Can we keep that momentum going? Can we have that killer instinct that we've lacked recently?'"
The Bears went for the kill.
After senior defender Hallie Augustyn got Baylor on the board in the 32nd minute, driving in a header off a corner kick assist from junior forward Tyler Isgrig, making it her third of the season.
"It's fun to me, it's fun attacking the ball in the box and getting to score, I stay back the entire time, so getting to have the opportunity to go into the box and attack the ball is really exciting to me," Augustyn said. "I want to make it worth my time, if I'm going to go up there, I might as well attack the ball. And that's also something that, our team has been working on lately is going to the ball and making sure we're first to win it. It's fun accomplishing the goal of getting the ball back in the net, especially on a set piece."
It didn't take long for Isgrig to add her own team-leading score in the 35th, finding space just in front of the right corner of the box to head in a pass from sophomore defender Natalie Vatter coming in from the right flank. Isgrig recorded a career-high four points in the match
Battling a scoring drought since scoring a brace against St. Bonaventure, Merrill found the back of the net in 56th minute, tapping in a cross from sophomore forward Callie Conrad with her forehead.
"During halftime, we we're in the locker room saying the next goal really depicts the whole game," Merrill said. "They score. It's a blood bath. We score. Crushes their hopes a little bit. So, it was good to get that third goal out of half."
Not to be left out of the party, Conrad netted the only ground score, taking a short pass from Isgrig to make the shot just outside the right corner of the box.
In goal, Azul Alvarez recorded her sixth win of the season and fourth shutout, making five saves as the Baylor defense continues to anchor the Bears. Lenard said Baylor will look to continue starting fast and formulating more chances earlier in the game, hoping to take the momentum into a tough stretch of conference play Thursday in Colorado and Sunday at home against TCU.
The 21st-ranked Buffs remained perfect in their return to Big 12 play with a 2-1 victory over No. 12 Oklahoma State and a 1-0 win over Iowa State this week while TCU took down BYU, 4-1, before defeating Arizona 1-0 on Sunday.
"We really got to take care of our bodies, rest and recover well," Lenard said. "We don't really have a lot of trouble focusing when we're on the road. There's actually less distractions, so maybe that's good in some ways ...I don't expect that we should have any issues getting excited about these games.
"Every game's a big game and we know where we stand right now — we need points — so hopefully we come out the same way we did today."
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