By Parmida Schahhosseini
Sports Writer
No. 23 Baylor soccer snapped a three–game losing streak with a 0-0 draw in double overtime against No. 15 Texas Tech on Sunday at Betty Lou Mays Field.
“We went through a lot of overtimes last year, so we’re kind of like an overtime team,” senior midfielder Kat Ludlow said. “We don’t go into it expecting a tie. We go in there expecting to get a goal off. It’s just 20 more minutes that we can go in, continue fighting and hopefully win the game.”
Baylor (8-3-3) limited its mental mistakes and played a clean game throughout. Both teams had opportunities to score, but the defenses came up Big for both teams leading to shutouts.
“That’s something we wanted to concentrate on,” senior defender Taylor Heatherly said. “We wanted high energy and not giving them room because they are a team that likes to have time and space. We just really needed to put our foot on the gas and make sure that we didn’t give them that.”
Baylor was on attack mode throughout the game, limiting the Red Raider’s possessions. Texas Tech made the most of its opportunities by outshooting Baylor 4-3 in the first half, but Baylor responded and outshot 10-13 overall on the match.
Sophomore defender Anjadai Seals locked down sophomore forward Janine Beckie, who is Texas Tech’s leading scorer. Beckie took five shots with two on goal, but wasn’t able to capitalize. Other than Beckie, five players each had one shot and only two other players had shots on goal.
Baylor’s offense had plenty of opportunities including a header at the 90-minute mark by Bri Campos that was saved by senior goalkeeper Victoria Esson that finished the game with three saves.
The Bears had a chance to get up 1-0, but the goal was negated after Ludlow’s throw was not deemed to be a live ball even though it went into the net. The ball didn’t touch an inbounds player, so the goal did not count. Baylor also had another chance in the second overtime in the 108th minute as freshman defender Lindsay Burns’ shot went high.
After allowing seven goals in the previous three games, junior goalkeeper Michelle Kloss made four saves including a clutch save in the 99th minute of the first overtime to prevent the winning goal. The shutout marked the seventh time in nine home games that the Bears have held an opponent scoreless.
Baylor was coming off of three consecutive losses, but the traditionally stout Baylor defense played with a heightened sense of urgency.
“It didn’t matter how well they [Texas Tech] had done, we just had to come in and play our game,” Baylor co-head coach Marci Jobson said. “We had to focus on small little moments of not making mental errors. That’s what some of our mistakes have been in the past three games. Small mental errors that had been momentum shifters.”
Baylor is looking for its first Big 12 road win as it takes on Iowa State at 7 p.m. Friday.
