Sept. 22, 2016 By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
After a challenging non-conference schedule that saw Baylor soccer (7-3-0) play six road games and four against Power 5 teams, coach Paul Jobson believes the Bears are ready for the grind of Big 12 play.
"This team has been through quite a bit in our non-conference, and it was set up that way to prepare us for this time of year," said Jobson, whose team will open league play by hosting Texas (6-3-0) at 6 p.m. Friday at Betty Lou Mays Field. "The main thing is we've tried to approach every game the same way, so that when you hit conference you have a pretty good regiment in order to race these types of teams."
Bounce back from a pair of 1-0 losses the weekend before, the Bears posted their fifth and sixth shutouts of the year, sweeping Washington (2-0) and Jackson State (7-0) last weekend.
"I think if you put two weekends back-to-back where you play really well and you're not scoring goals, then maybe you have something to be concerned about," Jobson said. "Coming off our road trip to the state of Alabama and not scoring any goals . . . being able to put nine goals in the back of the net the following weekend, I think it showed our team's determination to prove they can get the things done they need to and not settling and not being worried like a young team might, but playing like a veteran team."
Senior defender Lindsay Burns was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week after helping the Bears to the shutout victories, limiting Washington and Jackson State to a combined five shots, three on goal and three corner kicks. She also scored her second goal of the season in Sunday's 7-0 win over Jackson State.
Sophomore forward Lauren Piercy has already matched her last year total with a team-best six goals and leads the nation with five game-winners.
"She's our goal scorer," Jobson said of Piercy. "And the great thing about our team is that when the opponent wants to put a little bit of attention on Lauren, we've got other players that can get the job done as well. Not only is she able to do it herself, but when she draws attention we've got players than can do it as well."
Texas is off to its best nine-game start under fifth-year head coach Angela Kelly, with the Longhorns' only losses coming against Seattle and nationally ranked California and Ohio State, all by one goal.
Sophomore forward Alexa Adams, a second-team All-Big 12 pick a year ago, is the team's leader with five goals this season and has scored 10 goals on her last 14 shots on goal (71 percent efficiency) over the last 16 games.
"They're a quality team that's obviously very well-coached," Jobson said. "They've got some great athletes, they've got speed, they've got height. They've had some quality results this year, so it's going to be a quality match Friday night, for sure."
In a difficult weekend split, Baylor turns around to face Oklahoma State (5-3-2) at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex in Stillwater, Okla. OSU, which hosts Iowa State in its league opener Friday night, is undefeated in its last four games after going 2-3-1 to start the season.
"We don't have a lot of those (weekend splits), and we try to get the conference not to do a lot of those, because it is tough on the players," Jobson said. "But I'll say this, it's been worse. The first year West Virginia was in the conference, we went from Morgantown (W. Va.) to Stillwater. So, that was a nightmare. We'll take this. It's not a bad trip up to Stillwater. And our girls are pretty resilient. If we can bus back from Auburn, Alabama, to Waco, Texas, this isn't going to seem like much at all."
Friday night's game will be broadcast by FOX Sports Plus, with Lincoln Rose calling the play-by-play action and Baylor Associate AD Heath Nielsen providing analysis.
WACO, Texas -- Baylor soccer starts Big 12 Conference play this weekend with a 6 p.m. CT home match vs. Texas on Friday on FOX Sports Plus and 1 p.m. road match at Oklahoma State on Sunday.
Both matches will feature live stats on BaylorBears.com and OKState.com, respectively. Sunday's match will have live video on OKState.com. Twitter updates will also be provided on the @BaylorFutbol official account.
MATCH INFO
Fri., Sept. 23 v UT @ 6 p.m.
Betty Lou Mays Field (3,000)
Stats: BaylorBears.com
Video: FOX Sports Plus
Sun., Sept. 25 at OSU @ 1 p.m.
Cowgirl Soccer Complex (1,450)
Stats: OKState.com
Video: OKState.com
BAYLOR BEARS
2016 Record: 7-3-0
2016 Big 12 Record: 0-0-0
Head Coach: Paul Jobson
Career: 16-9-4 (2nd season)
BU: 16-9-4 (2nd season)
TEXAS LONGHORNS
2016 Record: 6-3-0
2016 Big 12 Record: 0-0-0
Head Coach: Angela Kelly
Career: 205-117-32 (17th season)
UT: 45-33-12 (5th season)
OKLAHOMA STATE COWGIRLS
2016 Record: 5-3-2
2016 Big 12 Record: 0-0-0
Head Coach: Colin Carmichael
Career: 160-64-33 (12th season)
OSU: 160-64-33 (12th season)
BAYLOR QUICK NOTES
* Baylor is undefeated in 19 of its last 24 matches, dating back to the 2015 season.
* Baylor has 47 shutouts over the last four seasons (six in 2016).
* Baylor is 36-2-3 when scoring first since 2013.
* Baylor is 126-48-22 all-time at home, 56-16-11 under the Jobsons at Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field and 4-0-0 in 2016. In their last nine matches at home the Bears are undefeated with an 8-0-1 mark (last loss was 2-1 vs. Michigan State on Aug. 25, 2015).
* Baylor is 3-3-0 on the road in 2016.
* Baylor is 9-8-3 in Big 12 home openers and 4-3-1 since 2008.
* Among NCAA leaders, Baylor ranks ninth in goals against average (0.393), 22nd in assists (21), 24th in points (63) and 25th in shutout percentage (0.600) and goals (21).
* Among Big 12 leaders, Baylor is first in goals against average, second in shutout percentage and third in assists, points and goals.
* Among individual leaders, sophomore forward Lauren Piercy leads the NCAA in game-winning goals (5), ranks 32nd in goals (6, first in Big 12) and 47th in points (14, third in Big 12). Junior goalkeeper Sara Martinson ranks 12th in goals against average (0.382, first in Big 12) and 23rd in shutouts (4, second in Big 12).
* Baylor holds significant edges over its opponents in goals (21-4), shots (169-43), shots on goal (84-15) and corners (61-26).
* Senior defender Lindsay Burns was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week Sept. 22. The weekly honor is Burns' first in her career and BU's first defensive weekly award since 2012 (Kat Ludlow, Sept. 5). The Yakima, Washington native gave the Bears their 10th Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week accolade and second from a non-goalkeeper (Ludlow, 2012). Burns is the second Bear to garner a weekly award this season as Lauren Piercy was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week on Aug. 30. Overall, Burns gave BU its 35th Big 12 weekly award and 20th under the Jobsons. Burns led Baylor's defense to a pair of shutout wins on last week, and added a goal, as BU gave up just five shots, three on goal and three corners in two matches.
* Piercy scored her career-high-tying sixth goal of the season Sept. 18 vs. Jackson State and 12th of her career for her 13th point of the season and 26th of her career. She has six goals in 10 games this season and 12 in 27 career games. Piercy's game-winning goal was her fifth this season and ninth of her career. She ranks tied for fourth on BU's single-season game-winners list and tied for fifth on BU's career game-winners list.
* Sophomore midfielder Sarah King picked up her third assist of the season on Sept. 16 vs. Washington and 13th of her career for her fifth point of the season and 19th of her career. She ranks tied for seventh at Baylor all-time in career assists.
* With two saves Sept. 16 vs. Washington, Martinson moved into eighth all-time at Baylor in career saves (49) as she also picked up her fourth shutout of the season and ninth of her career, moving her into fifth place all-time at Baylor in career shutouts.
-BU-
