When Paul and Marci Jobson came to Baylor from Northern Illinois nearly 10 years ago, there weren't a lot of recruiting doors open for a soccer program that had made just two NCAA tournament appearances and missed the Big 12 tournament five times in the previous six years.

"We were bringing in kids that probably wouldn't have played for any other Big 12 team," said Paul, who followed his wife as the head coach in 2015. "That 2012 team, those were the kids that first believed in just kind of a vision of what we thought we could do here."

Belief, hope and vision turned into reality in 2012, when the Bears won their first Big 12 Championship title and made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, losing a penalty-kick shootout after a 1-1 draw with eventual national champion North Carolina.

"Our girls are very aware of 2011 and 2012," Jobson said of a 2017 squad that will play Duke (22-2) in the Bears' first-ever Elite Eight at 4 p.m. CDT Friday in Durham, N.C. "People forget about 2011, when we lost to North Carolina, 5-0. That was our wake-up call. And to be able to play them the next year and take them to penalty kicks, that was a huge deal."

With collegiate soccer coaches recruiting players for classes three and four years down the road, that 2012 season also paved the way for the recruiting successes that essentially built this year's squad. The Bears are 15-5-3 overall after winning another Big 12 tournament championship and then getting through USC and Notre Dame last weekend in College Station.

"It's not something we talk about a ton, but we do talk about the 2012 team," Jobson said. "At the Big 12 Championship, before the finals, I showed them the highlights from that final and said, "I want you to see a Baylor team win a championship with your jerseys. I want you to see Marci go crazy. I want you to see what it looks like and believe you can do this.'''

The Jobsons' early recruiting classes had a distinct Midwest flavor, with the Bears signing Dana Larsen from Mequon, Wis., Justine Hovden from Lake Geneva, Wis., and Alexa Wilde from Naperville, Ill., the same type of players they were getting at Northern Illinois. But, those were some of the key pieces on that historic 2012 team.

"Now, you're selling the vision of 'Hey, we did it,''' Jobson said. "We're still trying to build on that success, it just doesn't happen overnight. But, I think we've done a good job of finding the right type of kids that fit what we already have and can plug in really well."

Since then, they've been able to recruit players from as far away as California, Idaho, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii and even Brazil. Senior midfielder Aline De Lima, a first-team All-Big 12 pick who has scored a team-high seven goals, was Jobson's first junior college recruit and first international player (Belo Horizonte, Brazil).

"A few things helped us nationally. One was (Robert Griffin III) winning the (2011) Heisman Trophy," Jobson said. "That was huge. It gets the name out there. I remember talking to a coach from a top club in Virginia. I introduce myself, 'I'm Paul Jobson, Baylor University, we're in Texas.' And he's like, 'Whoah! Whoah! Whoah! I'm a Redskins fan, RG3, I know all about Baylor.'''

The women's basketball team's 2012 national championship also opened some new doors, along with the soccer team's run the next fall.

"The clubs we've been talking to for years all of a sudden are like, 'OK, you guys are legitimate,''' Paul said. "I think also, we have a great reputation for taking care of kids. We do a really good job of not just trying to win championships, but really trying to take care of kids and get them out of here with a great degree. If they don't want to go play pro, what is it that they want to go do? We're trying to set them up to be successful in whatever they want to do. I think coaches appreciate that."

That's a big thing for mommas and daddies, too.

Baylor's Big 12 title in 2012 had its biggest impact on a 2015 class that might turn out to be the Bears' ever . . . at least for now.

Of that group, junior forward Lauren Piercy was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year in 2015 and is one goal shy of the career top 10 list with 18 goals; midfielder Julie James is a two-time All-Big 12 pick who was a third-team all-region honoree last year; defender Sarah King had a Big 12-best 10 assists as a freshman; forward Jackie Crowther has had multiple stints with Mexico's U-20 national team; and defender Kylie Ross, who had started 19 of the last 26 games before suffering an injury six games into this season.

"You look at that group, and I think six or seven were starting as freshmen," Jobson said. "We were 0-4-1 the first five games, and I think we only lost two or three games after that (9-6-4). At the end of that year, I told them, the experience that group got that year was setting them up for great success.

"They were going into their sophomore year like most juniors. They just had so much experience ÃÆ'Æ'à € ' ¢ÃƒÆ'Æ' ¢' ¬" the wins, the losses; the ups, the downs; conversation after conversation about what it takes to compete at this level; and keeping their head straight. Looking back, a big stepping stone to the success of this year was that group buying into something and recognizing kind of a shift a little bit."

With attrition taking half of the six-player 2014 signing class, Jobson filled in the gaps along the way by signing De Lima and defender/midfielder Caitlin Schwartz, a transfer from Sam Houston State. The only other seniors playing significant roles on this year's team are defenders Delanie Davis and Precious Akanyirige, a first-team All-Big 12 pick who scored the golden goal in Sunday's 3-2 overtime win over Notre Dame.

"We knew two years ago that we needed to beef up that class," Jobson said. "And it just so happened that we had the (scholarship) money available to bring in kinds like that. We needed to beef up the experience level a little bit."

Dynamic forward Raegan Padgett and defender Halee Sowinski are key contributors from the 2016 signing class, while freshmen Emily Bunnell and Ally Henderson have been "tag-teaming" at a midfield position. That 2017 class also produced freshman goalkeeper Jennifer Wandt, a Big 12 All-Freshman Team honoree who has posted nine shutouts and an impressive 0.71 goals-against average and stopped two shots in the penalty-kick shootout victory over USC.

"Even I forget she's a freshman. Jen has been fantastic," Jobson said. "I talked earlier about how Precious is the last line of defense before the goalkeeper. But, she can play with some confidence knowing that if she does mess up she's got another layer behind her."

Built on defense from the get-go, Baylor has added some dynamic pieces in the last few years with De Lima, Piercy, Crowther, James and Padgett.

"Those are the kids everybody wants, and we didn't have a chance at those kids early on," Jobson said. "But as we grew and as we had success and as we were able to prove that we're in for the long haul, kids like that start to show up. You're going to see some kids coming in next year that are just 'Wow!' Aline is the best player I've ever coached, but I don't think she's the best player I'll ever coach."

Typically fielding the fittest, toughest and most athletic-looking team on the pitch, Jobson credits that to a "recover team" of athletic trainer Kristen Bartiss, strength coach Stacie Skodinski and nutritionist Jeremy Chiang.

"They bring a wealth of knowledge that a coach just doesn't have," Jobson said. "And the cool thing is our girls have really bought into that. You can tell a kid all day what to do and the right choices and the wrong choices to help prepare them to play. But, if they don't buy into it, it's worthless. So, what I credit that group with is their ability to communicate the right way with these kids and find a way to get them to believe in it."

Arguably, the biggest key to the program's success is consistency. Paul and assistant coach Chuck Codd are in their 10th year on staff together, Marci remains behind the scenes as a personal confidante, and former players Justine Hovden and Hanna Gilmore returned as director of operations and volunteer assistant, respectively.

The only newcomer is assistant coach Matt Smith, who took Limestone College to its first two NCAA Division II Tournament appearances as the head coach before joining the staff this season.

"There are three head coaches on our staff right now, and we operate that way," Paul said. "I think people overlook consistency, because people are so quick to leave places or make changes. Look at the most successful programs across the country, at least in our sport, are people that have been there for a long time. We hope that's something we're able to do here."

Friday's game is currently slated exclusively for ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app, with live stats available at www.goduke.com.