SOC Opens Home Slate Against Nebraska, SMU

GAME 3
BAYLOR (1-1) vs. NEBRASKA (2-0)
Aug. 26, 2021 • 7:00 p.m. CT • Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Waco, Texas • Betty Lou Mays Field • Social Media: @BaylorFutbol | #SicEm | #FaithFamilyFutbol

GAME 4
BAYLOR (1-1) vs. SMU (1-0)
Aug. 29, 2021 • 7:00 p.m. CT • Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Waco, Texas • Betty Lou Mays Field • Social Media: @BaylorFutbol | #SicEm | #FaithFamilyFutbol

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Back on its home pitch for the first time after a 1-1 split on the road, Baylor soccer (1-1-0) will host an explosive Nebraska squad (2-0-0) that has blistered the nets for 21 goals in two exhibitions and two regular-season games.
            "They're scoring goals like they're going out of style," said Baylor coach Paul Jobson, who picked up his 90^th career win as a head coach with Sunday's 4-0 shutout of North Dakota State.
            Free 25^th anniversary T-shirts and Chick-Fil-A will be handed out before Thursday's game, which begins at 7 p.m. at Betty Lou Mays Field.
            "We haven't played in front of a real full crowd in over a year, so I think the girls are excited to get back in front of a bigger crowd and just being at home," Jobson said. "You like the camaraderie you get on the road, but it's always nice knowing you're coming home for a two-game home stretch. Just the friendly confines of Betty Lou and our fans and sleeping in our own beds, honestly."
            Winless on the road in a COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, Nebraska scored four goals and got an own goal in a 5-0 win over Missouri Sunday afternoon in Columbia. After dominating exhibition wins over South Dakota (5-0) and North Dakota State (8-0), the Cornhuskers opened the regular season last Thursday with a 3-0 home win over Western Illinois.
            "Hopefully, we can provide a little more of a defensive challenge for them than they've seen so far. At least I hope we can," Jobson said. "And hopefully, we can break their backline. That's our goal this weekend is to be better on both ends of the field, continuously, than we've been over the last couple of weeks."
             Shut out by Minnesota, 1-0, in last Thursday's season opener on the road, the Bears bounced back with goals by four different players (Maddie Algya, Taylor Moon, Ally Henderson-Ashkinos and Mackenzie Anthony) in a 4-0 road win over North Dakota State.
            "I wasn't happy with how we started the (Minnesota) match. Against a good team, you're going to get punished, and we were," Jobson said. "You're not happy about it, but we're glad we learned that lesson early. Overall, I was really happy with how we competed, how we played. We created a ton of opportunities . . . unfortunately, they didn't fall until Sunday."
            Baylor's defense was stout, with fifth-year senior goalkeeper Jennifer Wandt recording her 33^rd career shutout against North Dakota State. That moved her into sole possession of the fourth-most in Big 12 history and earned her sixth league award, being named Big 12 Goalkeeper of the Week.
            "With the way that we play defense, she doesn't have to do a lot, usually," Jobson said of Wandt, who has won twice as many weekly Big 12 awards as any other Baylor player. "But when she does, she has to make big saves. And that was again the story for her. She didn't have to do a lot, but when she was called upon, she had to make some really big saves."
            After missing the two exhibition games, Anthony came back with five shots, four on goal and her third career goal in the two-game road trip.
            "She's a big piece of what we do offensively," Jobson said of the sophomore forward. "While we have some great young players, she is wise beyond her years when it comes to the attack and has done a great job for us. And we're going to see even greater things from her as we move forward."
            Baylor will wrap up its first home weekend with a game against SMU (1-0-0) at 7 p.m. Sunday. The Mustangs, who played only two games last season, opened with a 2-0 win over Northwestern State on Sunday after its first game against Houston Baptist was canceled because of poor field conditions.
            "You can just see in the one game that they got to play, they're just hungry to get on the field and compete," Jobson said of SMU, which holds a 7-4 all-time edge in the series. "I know they'll come in and compete really well against us."
            Both games will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with Lincoln Rose calling the action Thursday and Derek Smith taking over play-by-play duties on Sunday.

STORY LINES

Baylor opens up its home slate against former Big 12 foe Nebraska on Thursday before closing out the weekend against SMU on Sunday. In home openers, the Bears are 20-2-3.
The 2021 season marks the 25th anniversary of the Baylor Soccer program. To celebrate, BU unveiled an updated crest for the season.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary there will be free t-shirts available to the first 300 fans on Thursday, in addition to a food truck and inflatables. Fans will also be able to test their penalty kick skills on the rhomus behind the stands.
Baylor returns home after an opening weekend in the midwest. A sluggish start doomed the Bears at Minnesota as BU couldn't recover from a Gopher goal in the opening 10 minutes of play. Once Baylor settled in, though, the Bears kept the home team on its heels. Three days later, Baylor unleashed four goals on North Dakota State, each scored by a different Bear. Maddie Algya got things going with a goal in the fifth minute. Taylor Moon followed with one of her own eight minutes later. Gabby Mueller assisted on each of those. Ally Henderson-Ashkinos made it 3-0 before half time as she collected a rebound and finished with the score. The Bears kept their foot on the gas in the second half as Mackenzie Anthony netted her first goal of the season off an assist from Elizabeth Kooiman in the 48th minute.
Paul Jobson picked up his 90th career win on Sunday at North Dakota State. He became the winningest coach in program history in 2019.
Jennifer Wandt was named the Big 12 Goalkeeper of the Week. It marked her sixth conference weekly honor, a program best. The Brookfield, Wisc., native picked up career shutout No. 33 at North Dakota State on Sunday which moved her into sole possession of fourth place in Big 12 history. Wandt is already Baylor's all-time leader in career shutouts and over the weekend became BU's leader in most goalkeeper minutes played (career) with 7,191. On the weekend, Wandt finished with six saves and allowed only one goal.
Six newcomers made their debuts for Baylor over the opening weekend. Ava Colberg logged the most minutes of any Bear as she started both contests at right back. Haven Terry started the season opener at center forward and came in off the bench against the Bison. Sophie Wilson also picked up some minutes on the front line, and Alyssaa Navarrete relieved Wandt between the pipes at NDSU. Kate Zimmerman also picked up some time on the back line. Lorelai Stramrood played in her first soccer match in more than 10 months against the Bison.
The Bears return close to their whole roster from the 2020 season that featured plenty of twists and turns along the way due to COVID-19. Every starter returns for BU to give the Bears plenty of experience across the field.
Wandt and Moon were the lone Bears named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team. Wandt continues to be a force in goal for Baylor. After netting a hat trick in Baylor's opening exhibition contest vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Moon nearly had the equalizer at Minnesota but her shot ricocheted off the crossbar. She netted her first goal of the season at North Dakota State.

SOC Opens Home Slate Against Nebraska, SMU

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Players Mentioned

Maddie Algya

Mackenzie Anthony

Ava Colberg

Ally Henderson-Ashkinos

Elizabeth Kooiman

Taylor Moon

Gabby Mueller

Lorelai Stramrood

Haven Terry

Jennifer Wandt

Sophie Wilson

Kate Zimmerman

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