By Greg DeVries
Sports Reporter
Last year, the Baylor women’s soccer team ended its season in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the hands of North Carolina 5-0. This year, the 11th ranked Bears have advanced to the second round after beating Arizona State 3-1 on Friday.
Senior midfielder Hanna Gilmore scored her fourth goal in three games to begin the Bears’ tournament opener. Senior forward Lisa Sliwinski assisted on the play.
“Hanna had a great game again,” head coach Marci Jobson said. “She has really just come into her own at the right time. She is playing the best soccer of her life. Her leadership on and off the field has been incredible.”
Senior forward Larissa Campos assisted on a goal by junior forward Alex Klein that put the Bears up 2-0 going into halftime.
In the second half, Arizona State scored early to make the game interesting, but the Bears responded less than a minute later. Junior defender Taylor Heatherly lined up to take a free kick from 42 yards out. She launched the ball into the middle of a crowd of players, and it ended up in the back of the net. The goal was Heatherly’s first of her college career.
“It was a cool response,” Jobson said. “I was disappointed that we gave up the goal, but I thought our response was excellent. We didn’t sit back and we continued to press forward. It was great for Taylor to get that goal.”
Baylor’s opponent for its second-round game will be Georgetown. Georgetown scored early in its first round game against Virginia Tech, on Sunday but the Hoakies took a 2-1 lead into halftime. The Hoyas equalized, and the game went into overtime.
Georgetown wasted no time, however, and scored less than four minutes into the first overtime period.
The Hoyas are now 16-3-3 on the year and are ranked No. 14 in the country.
The teams will play at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Friday. UNC is the host school for Baylor’s game against Georgetown, UNC’s game against Illinois, and the game in which the winners play each other for a spot in the Elite Eight.
Both Baylor and Georgetown are offensively strong. Each team scores just over two goals per game, but Baylor takes about twice as many shots.
The two teams are similar defensively as well. Baylor has given up 12 goals in its 23 games this season, and Georgetown has given up 15 goals in its 22 games so far. It should also be noted that Baylor has a higher RPI, which means that it played a tougher schedule than Georgetown.
Georgetown’s leading scorer is sophomore midfielder Daphne Corboz. Despite being just 5-feet 2-inches tall, Corboz is what makes this offense go. She has recorded 17 goals and eight assists in Georgetown’s 22 games. She has also taken 90 shots, which is almost twice as many as Georgetown’s next leading scorer, junior forward Kaitlin Brenn.
Kickoff against Georgetown will be at 3 p.m. Friday at Fetzer Field.
