SOC Closes Out the Regular Season with Contest at Iowa State

BAYLOR (7-7-4) at IOWA STATE (3-9-5)

Oct. 25, 2024 • 6 p.m. CT • Watch: ESPN+ • Ames, Iowa • Cyclone Sports Complex

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

WACO, Texas – All year long, Baylor soccer coach Michelle Jobson has tried to build a mentality of "treating every game like a final."

"And it's hard to do that until you really get to that point," said Lenard, whose Bears (7-7-4, 2-5-3) close out the regular season with a matchup against Iowa State (3-9-5, 1-5-3) at 6 p.m. Friday at Cyclone Soccer Complex in Ames.

"But hopefully, we've had enough practice doing that that we feel ready for the moment. We worked through some of that as a team, to talk through those nerves and anxieties and some of the pressure that we're feeling. And I feel like we're in a good place."

While there is certainly pressure in trying to land one of the 12 spots for the Big 12 Championship that starts next week in Kansas City, Baylor has a simple formula: Win and you're in.

Currently, Baylor sits in 11^th place, but the Bears could slide to 13^th with a loss to Iowa State and a Cincinnati win over UCF.

"We would be counting on some other games," Lenard said. "Because of that, a loss would put us at jeopardy of not advancing to the conference tournament. But it shouldn't matter. We should be able to go in and play with the same mentality all the time, to win or get a result in every game we play in."

The Bears had it in their hands last Thursday, holding a 3-1 lead on BYU in the final minutes. But the Cougars' Allie Fryer netted a goal with just under six minutes to play and scored barely a minute later on a penalty kick off a hand ball violation for a 3-3 tie.

"I think it's just knowing that we're capable of doing better than that and we're better than that, than what happened last week," junior defender Hallie Augustyn said of the 3-3 tie with BYU and Sunday's 2-0 loss at Utah. "It sucks, but I think we also take it as a learning experience in everything we did wrong . . . to make sure we bounce back from that and not keep this trend of getting goals scored against us."

In Sunday's loss, Baylor was shorthanded in the back line. Sixth-year senior Marissa Gray was already sidelined by a knee injury, and both Paisley Mabra and Hannah Augustyn went down in the first 35 minutes of the game.

"I felt that game was an anomaly," Lenard said. "It wasn't a bad loss, Utah is a good team, but as far as the RPI . . . Had we been more rested, I think it's a different outcome. Had we played them first, I think it's a different outcome."

Lenard expects all three defenders to be back for Friday's game.

"I don't know what Marissa's minutes will look like," she said, "but we should have her, and I think she'll start the game."

At least part of the motivation for Friday's game is to get at least one more game for the seniors – Gray, defender Ava Colberg, forwards Haven Terry and Jordan Ryan and midfielders Ashley Merrill and Kai Hayes.

"It's really bittersweet," said sophomore forward Callie Conrad, "especially because our seniors are leaving (when the season ends). We were having a team dinner, and I told Ashley, 'I'm going to miss y'all.' It's going to be different. And we have a lot (of seniors) this year. It's been a long season, but we want to finish out strong to keep them for as long as we can and just really reach our potential."

All 16 teams will be in action on the final day of the regular season, with first kick for Cincinnati and UCF at 5 p.m. in Orlando. The Baylor-Iowa State game will be streamed by ESPN+, with Tom Kroeschell and Noah Wolf calling the action.

STORY LINES

Baylor is in the midst of finishing the regular season with three-straight road contests, last week with contests at BYU and Utah, before closing out the regular-season this week in Ames, Iowa against the Iowa State Cyclones on Friday, Oct. 25.
The 2024 season marks the 28th season of the Baylor Soccer program. During that time, BU has won four Big 12 titles, advanced to two Elite Eights and had four All-Americans to go with countless All-Big 12 and Academic All-Big 12 honorees.
This season also marks the third year of the Michelle Lenard coaching era, as she was selected as the Bears sixth head coach in program history in December of 2021.
With the new Big 12 teams joining the conference this season, the Bears will only play 11 of the 15 other opponents this season. The Bears will face all four of the new schools, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah. BU will not face Cincinnati, UCF, Kansas or Kansas State in regular season play.
The Bears are 7-7-4 so far on the season, with four of BU's losses coming against ranked or receiving votes opponents (No. 18 Mississippi State, No. 22 Iowa, No. 15 Oklahoma State and RV Texas Tech). The Bears most recently fell against Utah, 2-0.
Baylor has a 33 person roster this season and features 25 returners and eight newcomers.
Returning to the squad for the first time since the 2022 season in fifth-year Marissa Gray. After working for the past year and applying to PT school, Gray re-joined the Bears to use her fifth year of eligibility. She hasn't seen playing time since the 2019 season due to injury but returns to the pitch as a veteran on the backline.
This season the Bears roster features two international student-athletes for the first time since the 2017 season. Salma Simonin returns to Baylor from Manchester, United Kingdom and Hilary Washington joins the Bears from Wellesley, Ontario, Canada.
Tyler Isgrig leads the Bears so far this season in points with 19, off of six goals and seven assists. She has played the fifth most minutes so far this season (1449).
The junior forward, Isgrig, currently sits at fifth in most career assists in BU's record books with 19 so far with assists from both TCU and Baylor. Isgrig's six goals on the season ties a career-high for most goals in a season. She has totaled six goals in each of the three seasons of her career.
Joining Isgrig with multiple goals this season are Ashley Merrill, Hallie Augustyn, Hannah Augustyn and Callie Conrad, while Kai Hayes has one goal. BU has two team goals this year from own goals, including one against Colorado.
In the Bears' 4-0 win over Arizona State, four different Bears scored for the second time this season. It also marks the first time since 2019 the Bears have scored four or more goals in three games in a season.
Azul Alvarez has posted five shutout wins this season, with a career-high 10 saves in the Bears' 3-3 tie against BYU.
In BU's tie against BYU, three different Bears recorded a goal (Tyler Isgrig, Ashley Merrill and Hallie Augustyn) and the tie marked just the third time this season the Cougars have tied or lost on their home field.
Alvarez and Conrad have picked up the Bears' only Big 12 conference weekly award so far this season, being named Goalkeeper and Offensive Player of the Week (8/28).
Baylor is 21-8-2 all-time against Iowa State, taking down the Cyclones last year, 4-2.
Baylor is currently sitting at No. 47 in the RPI rankings. The Big 12 as a whole has six teams sitting in the top 50 in RPI rankings.

- BaylorBears.com -

SOC Closes Out the Regular Season with Contest at Iowa State

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Players Mentioned

Azul Alvarez

Hallie Augustyn

Hannah Augustyn

Ava Colberg

Callie Conrad

Marissa Gray

Kai Hayes

Tyler Isgrig

Paisley Mabra

Ashley Merrill

Jordan Ryan

Salma Simonin

Haven Terry

Hilary Washington

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SOC Closes Out the Regular Season with Contest at Iowa State

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Azul Alvarez

Hallie Augustyn

Hannah Augustyn

Ava Colberg

Callie Conrad

Marissa Gray

Kai Hayes

Tyler Isgrig

Paisley Mabra

Ashley Merrill

Jordan Ryan

Salma Simonin

Haven Terry

Hilary Washington

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