Baylor Game Notes

WACO, Texas - Baylor soccer (2-0-0) faces its first road test of the season, trekking to Houston for an expedited match with the Rice Owls (1-1-0), a contest moved from Friday evening to Thursday, Aug. 24, at 6 p.m. at Holloway Field.

For the first time in program history, every road match will have a streaming radio broadcast, available to subscribers on BaylorBears.com/allaccess.

For all updates and an inside look at the program, follow @BaylorFutbol on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

MATCH INFO
Thurs., Aug. 24 at Rice @ 6 p.m.
Holloway Field (1,500)
Stats: RiceOwls.com
Audio: BaylorBears.com
Sun., Aug. 27 at HBU @ 5 p.m.
Sorrels Field (500)
Stats: HBUHuskies.com
Audio: BaylorBears.com

BAYLOR BEARS
2017 Record: 2-0-0
2017 Big 12 Record: 0-0-0
Head Coach: Paul Jobson
Career: 23-13-5 (3rd season)
BU: 23-13-5 (3rd season)

RICE OWLS
2017 Record: 1-1-0
2017 C-USA Record: 0-0-0
Head Coach: Nicky Adams
Career: 69-43-20 (7th season)
Rice: 69-43-20 (7th season)

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

Tested under fire in a 2-1 overtime victory over Wyoming, the Baylor soccer team (2-0-0) puts its undefeated record on the line when the Bears face the Rice Owls (1-1-0) at 6 p.m. Thursday at Holloway Field in Houston.

"I think we learned that we compete really well. We feel like we can play with anybody," coach Paul Jobson said. "Wyoming presented a few things that showed us we probably need to sharpen up on a couple things as well. I think Friday night (5-0 win over Louisiana-Lafayette) built some confidence for us, too. Scoring goals early in the season is nice, so I think it was a pretty good weekend for us heading into another competitive weekend."

Originally scheduled for Friday, the matchup against Rice was moved up a day because of Tropical Storm Harvey, a system coming out of the Gulf of Mexico that could develop into a hurricane by Friday. Additionally, the Bears' game against Houston Baptist on Sunday has been postponed, with both programs looking at potential future makeup dates.

Baylor is 5-0-2 all-time against Rice, but had to get an overtime goal from Bri Campos to beat the Owls, 1-0, in the last meeting in 2014.

"It's always been a good match for us anytime we play them," Jobson said. "They're one of the better teams in the state of Texas, and they compete really well with the Big 12 teams they play. Texas played them this past weekend and beat them (2-1), but it looked like a pretty even match from start to finish. They gave up a really early goal, in the first 25 seconds, but after that it was pretty back and forth."

Rice, which returns eight starters from an 11-5-1 team that had a higher RPI (51) than Baylor (68) last season, came back from last Friday's loss at Texas to dominate Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 4-0. Seniors Samantha Chaiken and Nia Stallings are returning all-conference picks, with Rice picked to finish second in the C-USA preseason coaches' poll.

"Rice is a super-competitive team. They're athletic, they're well-coached, they compete really hard and they always have," Jobson said.

Through the first two games, Baylor has a 65-9 edge in shots, but Jobson wants to see a more efficient attack. The Bears have put just 35.4 percent of their shots on goal and scored on only 10.8 percent of their attempts.

"I like the volume of shots, if they're better-quality shots," Jobson said. "I think we've got to be a little more selective on our shots. . . . There were ones in the first match that were unreasonable opportunities that probably shouldn't have been taken that I'm more frustrated with. But, I thought we kind of wrangled that in a lot better in the second game."

Junior forward Jackie Crowther, who didn't score in 11 games last season while splitting time with Mexico's U20 National Team, had both goals in Sunday's win over Wyoming. She scored the golden goal off a deflected free kick by Aline De Lima.

"(Last year), it was hard for her to get plugged in and hard for us to really plug her in with the hopes that she would make the World Cup squad, which she did," Jobson said of Crowther. "That was an awesome experience for her. But now, she's back full fold for us and doing some great things, training really well and really invested. Kind of like the team scoring a bunch of goals early is good for our confidence, her having the success she's having is good for her confidence."

Live audio streaming for tonight's game is available at www.baylorbears.com/allaccess.

BAYLOR QUICK NOTES
* Baylor has had 10 or more wins in ten of its 21 seasons as a program and has done so in five of the last seven years under Paul Jobson, who enters his third season as head coach, 10th at Baylor overall.

* Baylor is coming off of a successful 2-0 opening weekend, notching wins over both UL-Lafayette and Wyoming.

* Baylor has outshot its opponents 65-10 in its two opening matches.

* The Bears start the season at 2-0 for the first time since 2014, moving into the first road matches of 2017.

* BU has had at least eight wins in eight straight seasons and has won at least one match at the Big 12 Championship nine times in 14 appearances, including five in a row.

* Junior midfielder Julie James was Baylor's lone representative on the 2017 Preseason All-Big 12 Team after being named 2016 All-Big 12 and NSCAA All-Region.

* Baylor was chosen fifth in the 2017 Big 12 preseason poll after finishing tied for third in 2016.

* BU returns 20 players from the 2016 roster and welcomes nine newcomers for 2017.

* Baylor has already played two exhibition matches as the Bears downed Texas A&M Corpus-Christi on Aug. 6 and Abilene Christian on Aug. 11.

* From July 23-26, a group of current and former Baylor soccer student-athletes served on a mission trip to Guatemala alongside Baylor FCA. The mission team served the children of Guatemala City and shared the love of Christ through the game of soccer.

* Baylor had 10 or more (13) Academic All-Big 12 selections in 2016 for the 10th straight season (10 first team, two second team).

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