Baylor soccer is back on the road after beating Oklahoma and tying with the No. 17-ranked Texas Tech team at home last weekend.
“It was a really physical weekend for sure,” said head coach Paul Jobson. “We got a little banged up.”
“Two game weekends are tough, but the reality is, that’s normal. That’s what we are usually doing,” Jobson said. “I think the physicality of the two games were probably tougher than the fact that we are playing two games. It’s something most of these girls are used to. We were fortunate to have a few weeks where we didn’t have that, and I think it has helped us to be healthy this far into the season.”
The Bears (8-5-2, 3-1-1) will first head to Fort Worth in a Friday match-up against the strong TCU (8-7-0, 2-3-0 Big 12) team.
The Bears defense is going to have to shut down junior forward Michelle Prokof, who has scored nine goals this season.
“She’s a really good player, but we’re great defensively,” Jobson said. “We are one of the best defensive teams in the conference. I know our girls are up for any challenge, but she’s a very good player.”
The only edge the Horned Frogs have is being fresh, Jobson said.
“Talk about being beat up and fresh. They haven’t played a game in two weeks,” Jobson said. “They had this last weekend off, so they should be pretty fresh and probably antsy to play. Where as our girls are recovering after a tough weekend, but I think it will be a great match up.”
With just a day of rest, the Bears will travel to Austin on Sunday, where they play the No. 2 ranked team in the Big 12, Texas (7-3-4, .4-1-1 Big 12).
The Longhorns have a very strong defense, Jobson said.
“They have a great defense and part of it is their goalkeeper. She’s one of the best in the country,” Jobson said. “Abby is a great player.”
“For us, if we play a great defensive team or not, we’ve been able to create opportunities. Not any discredit to them, but I just think we are good enough to create opportunities. It will just be a matter of being able to get one behind her because she is a really good goalkeeper.”
The main thing that the Bears have being focusing on in training is being prepared physically for the tough matches the team will face in conference play, Jobson said.
“Our main thing this week has been recovery,” Jobson said. “Trying to get our bodies back where they need to be. We went over little details.”
“For us, it’s always been about what we are able to do, and right now being fresh and being recovered is going to be the main thing for us to give us the best chance in the two games this weekend.”
“Kind of where everybody is in this conference, there’s a lot on the line. Everybody wants the championship.”
The Bears play 7 p.m. Friday at the Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium in Forth Worth and 4 p.m. Sunday at the Mike A. Myers Stadium and Soccer Field in Austin.
