By Greg DeVries
Sports Writer
There are no easy games in conference play.
The No. 25 women’s soccer team has played three conference games so far, and all of them have come down to the wire.
The most recent game was a 3-2 win over Texas Tech to move the team to 11-1-2 overall and 2-0-1 in conference play.
Nearly 1,500 fans showed up to create a hostile environment for the Bears, but Baylor still came out strong last Friday.
“That was an unbelievable game,” head coach Marci Jobson said. “I am really proud of the way we kept responding. Lubbock is not an easy place to play with the wind, with the turf and with the toughness of Tech’s team. My team didn’t give up. They didn’t get down. We just kept going and found a way to win.”
Senior forward Dana Larsen possessed the ball in the Bears’ attacking third and passed the ball into the 18-yard box to teammate and fellow senior forward Lisa Sliwinski.
Sliwinski put the ball up and over the Texas tech goalkeeper to give the Bears a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute.
Both teams took four shots in the first half, but the score remained 1-0 until just before halftime.
Texas Tech evened the score at one with a goal in the 66th minute when Red Raider freshman forward Janine Beckie scored her team-leading ninth goal of the season.
A long pass went over the top from Red Raider midfielder Hayley Haagsma. Beckie was able to beat the keeper.
In the 87th minute, Larsen connected with Sliwinski again for Baylor’s second goal of the game.
“Both of Lisa’s goals were similar,” Jobson said. “She just beat a player and buried it from distance. Lisa was a threat all night. She played just a heck of a game.”
Freshman forward Bri Campos was also credited with an assist on Sliwinski’s second goal of the day and sixth on the year.
Sliwinski has now scored four goals in the past three games.
The assist was Larsen’s fourth on the season.
Texas Tech, however, would not give up.
With less than 30 seconds remaining in the game, Red Raider freshman forward Briana Rohmer tied the game at two with a header goal on a pass from Texas Tech sophomore midfielder Paige Strahan.
With the score tied, the Bears entered their fifth overtime period of the season.
Neither team was able to score the golden goal in the first overtime period, though the Bears did manage to threaten the goal twice.
In the 105th minute, Campos buried her first goal since Baylor’s exhibition game against Notre Dame before the season started.
She is the 15th Bear to score a goal this year.
Junior midfielder Kat Ludlow took a throw in from the sideline and threw the ball into the 18-yard box.
The ball bounced around and ended up in front of the Texas Tech goal.
Red Raider junior goalkeeper Victoria Esson was about to grab the ball when Campos slid into the play and knocked the ball into the net.
“Campos’ goal was all pure hustle and effort,” Jobson said. “Their goalie almost had the ball in her hands and Bri just slid and got a piece of it.”
Baylor will travel to Morgantown to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers at 6 p.m. Friday.
The Mountaineers are 9-3-3 on the year and have not lost since playing No. 4 Penn State on Aug. 31.
Temperatures at game time should dip into the low 40s, and the moon phase will be waning crescent.
