By Nathan Keil | Sports Writer
The Baylor soccer team earned a split in their two games in Michigan over the weekend. The Bears began the regular season with a 2-0 win over Detroit Mercy on Friday afternoon before falling at Michigan State 1-0 on Sunday.
Against Detroit Mercy, the Lady Bears jumped on the offensive end as sophomore forward Lauren Piercy scored in the 12th minute on a breakaway goal, off the assist from senior midfielder Ashley York, her first of two assists in the game.
The Lady Bears would put the game out of reach in the 60th minute when senior defender Lindsay Burns headed in the corner kick, putting the Bears up 2-0.
Baylor was the aggressor from start to finish, often overwhelming the Titans. Head coach Paul Jobson was pleased with the result and the effort by the Lady Bears in their opener.
“Any time you can go on the road and get a win it’s big for your team, especially in our opener,” Jobson said in a post game interview. “It was good to play a mix of rookies and veterans that missed or didn’t get as much playing time as we would’ve like in the exhibitions.”
Unfortunately, for the Lady Bears, Sunday’s game did not follow the same script as Friday. Despite maintaining possession and controlling the pace of the game throughout, the Lady Bears were unable to find the net.
“We couldn’t find the back of the net and sometimes that’s just how it goes in our game,” Jobson said.
The game’s lone goal came in the 81st minute when Spartan junior forward Jamie Cheslik headed the ball in off the corner kick from her teammate, senior midfielder Marisa Oleksiak.
“It was a very competitive team but I thought we played a very good first half,” Spartan head coach Tom Saxton said in a post game interview. “Even though they had a shot advantage on us, they were mostly all from outside so I thought it was a good even first half.”
Despite the mixed result, Jobson is proud of his team and confident they’ll bounce right back.
“I’m really proud of the team,” Jobson said. “We played really well, just didn’t get the result.”
The Bears return to action 7 p.m. Friday as they welcome the Purdue Boilermakers to Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field.
