SOC: Bears’ season ends with 2-1, 2-OT loss in Sweet 16

Sunday, November 23

South Bend, Ind.

1 p.m.

Baylor

14-5-4, 7-3-1

Ohio State

11-4-6, 4-2-5

Ohio St.

Baylor

SOC: Bears’ season ends with 2-1, 2-OT loss in Sweet 16

11/23/2025 5:54:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score

Ohio State Scores Game Winner in 105th Minute

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Playing just its second overtime game of the season, fifth-seeded Baylor soccer lost a heartbreaker to Ohio State, 2-1, on Sunday, giving up a golden goal by the Buckeyes with 5 ½ minutes left in the second overtime period in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 at Alumni Stadium.

OSU (11-4-6), unseeded in the regional, knocked off its third-straight seeded team in advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2010. The Buckeyes stunned overall No. 1 national seed Notre Dame in similar fashion, scoring a golden goal with 34 seconds left in the second OT period on Thursday.

Baylor, which survived a relentless second-half attack by Wisconsin in beating the Badgers, 1-0, in Thursday's second-round game, was trying to reach the Elite Eight for the first time in seven years and third time in program history. The Bears finish coach Michelle Lenard's fourth season at 14-5-4 overall.

"Really proud of this team," Lenard said. "Disappointing ending, obviously. The game was pretty back and forth there at the end and in the overtime periods. But it can happen. You've got tired legs, and the game is box to box, somebody's going to get one."

Amanda Schlueter, who scored the game's first goal in the 65^th minute, found Anika Porembia for the game-winner from the left side, slipping it past Baylor goalkeeper Azul Alvarez into the left corner of the net with 5:25 left in the second OT.

"First of all, an overtime loss is brutal, because the game's over. You don't have a second chance to get a goal back," Lenard said.

In her previous stop at Dallas Baptist, one of Lenard's players told her after a season-ending loss that she was "upset that we lost, but I'm said that it's over."

"That's what put it in perspective for me," Lenard said. "We could have won it all, and there's still going to be tears. You're going to be happy that you won, but you're still going to be sad that it's over. That's what makes this program so special is, win or lose, these girls love being here. They love being a part of it, and they don't want it to be over.

"That single quote has held it together. Thank God that kid said that to me, because some of these end of the seasons are pretty brutal. That's the risk we take when we step on the field to play competitive sports. But to be sad that's over and not just ready to get out of here is something special and meaningful."
Outshot 36-8 in that win over Notre Dame, Ohio State was the aggressor in this one from the start, taking 13 shots to Baylor's one until the final two minutes of the first half when Aryanna Jimison got off two shots for the Bears.

"We didn't have a good start. They were all over us at the beginning," Lenard said. "I think about 25 minutes into the half, we finally started to settle in, get some momentum, get some control of the ball and, obviously, get to halftime with the tie. We were fortunate in some ways to do that, so it gave us a mental reset, and then the second half was much better. We had a lot more of the ball."

The Buckeyes got the first score on the board just under 20 minutes into the second half, with Schlueter picking up her team-high 10^th goal of the season on an assist from Jadin Bonham.

But the Bears answered four minutes later, when Purdue transfer Lauren Omholt had a cross into the box from the left side, with Kai Hayes punching one in past OSU goalkeeper Molly Pritchard into the left side of the net to tie it up at 1-1.

"When they score a goal, you wonder if you're going to have the legs to come back, if you're going to have the mentality," Lenard said. "And you can count on Kai for that. Kai is ruthless, she's relentless. She's going to put herself in position to do whatever she can to help the team succeed. You get a great run from (Omholt) and a great pass, and obviously Kai just running through things there in the box."

Ohio State finished with a 34-11 edge in shots and 12-5 in shots on goal, with Alvarez coming up with an incredible nine saves. The Buckeyes will face third-seeded Florida State in the Elite Eight after the Seminoles beat second-seeded Georgetown, 3-1.

"I'm proud of the fight in this team," Lenard said. "I'm proud of the resilience. I'm most proud of what this group of seniors has built, because we're a completely different program than we were four years ago. They completely changed the style for play for this program and the image on the outside. And then, to get back to this point and be in it right up until the very end is something that were all very proud of them for."

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