By Julia Lawrenz | Broadcast Reporter
No. 2-ranked Baylor soccer (18-5-0) came out on top in the first round of the NCAA Soccer Championships after battling it out against Abilene Christian (15-5-1) and winning 2-0.
Baylor kept its winning record at home with 12-0, and head soccer coach Paul Jobson said he was overjoyed at the win.
“It means a lot,” Jobson said. “Obviously, I appreciate everybody that was out tonight. It was a packed house, it was awesome, a great environment for a college playoff game. Just appreciate everybody being out here and creating a great environment for our girls to compete. It’s great to be at home. We’ve had a lot of success here, and they’ve earned the right to be here. The great thing is, we move on and get to stay here another weekend.”
In the 14th minute, senior midfielder Julie James went through the entire ACU defense to find senior defender Sarah King to score their first goal, which was King’s second of the season.
The Bears secured their win with a second goal in the 47th minute. Sophomore midfielder Ally Henderson took a corner kick and found junior forward Camryn Wendlandt for a header shot that flew into the deep corner of the net, which was Wendlandt’s team-high 10th goal of the season.
“Abilene Christian is a good enough team, where being up only 1-0, they’re one break away from tying the game,” Jobson said. “We talked about that at halftime. We needed to get on the board pretty early in the second half and they took care of business, they did that. I think that gave us a little bit of room to breathe.”
The victory against ACU allows the Bears to play at home again for the second round of NCAA Soccer Championships. They will face No. 13 Vanderbilt (16-3-1) at 7 p.m. on Friday at Betty Lou Mays field.
