By DJ Ramirez | Sports Editor
After a tough 2-1 loss at home to the Texas Longhorns, Baylor soccer bounced back with a 4-0 shutout against TCU Sunday in Fort Worth.
Another lightning delay pushed back kickoff to almost three hours, but the Bears were able to play this one out, having already rescheduled the match once. Head coach Paul Jobson said the team played dominantly against a good Horned Frogs squad.
“Really proud of our team’s performance tonight. Even after a long lightning delay, they were ready to play,” Jobson said. “These girls put together a dominant 90 minutes against a really good team.
The Bears were led by senior forward Raegan Padgett in her first multi-goal performance of her career. Padgett raced the ball in from midfield and shot it into the goal from 25 yards out, with the ball falling in just under the crossbar in the 33rd minute.
Two minutes prior, Baylor made a major stop to keep the Horned Frogs off the board when TCU set up for a free kick just outside the box, but the defender wall managed the block and the Frogs’ second shot missed out wide of the net.
Out of intermission, Padgett struck again off a feed by senior forward Camryn Wendlandt. Padgett looped the shot over the head of TCU goalkeeper Emily Alvarado to put the Bears up 2-0 in the 56th minute.
In the 67th minute, sophomore forward Elena Reyna extended Baylor’s lead on a rebound shot by redshirt freshman midfielder Maddie Algya, placing the goal in the bottom left corner of the net.
Senior defender Danielle Hayden put the cherry on top in the 83rd minute with a goal on a penalty kick that flew right in as Alvarado dove in the opposite direction.
The match marked junior goalkeeper Jennifer Wandt’s third shutout of the year and 24th of her career. Wandt recorded two saves as Baylor outshot the Horned Frogs 19-10, with nine of those shots on goal. TCU only had two shots on goal in the first half.
The win comes after the Bears dropped their last home match to Texas which saw junior defender Sarah Norman score the first goal of her career, but it wasn’t enough to get past the Longhorns. Baylor mounted a comeback run in the second half of Friday night, outshooting Texas 11-4 after being outshot in the first half 8-2.
Despite the loss, Norman was proud of her team for fighting back even if they came up short against the Longhorns.
“That’s something that’s different about this team. A lot of teams, when they get scored on twice, especially the second goal of the second half, they kind of just give up like the game’s over,” Norman said. “But this team has always been resilient with getting back and never giving up, even if we’re two down. You saw in the USC game, we were 2-0 against the No. 2 team and we were still able to come back and keep fighting throughout the whole game. That’s what makes this team special.”
The Bears will host their final home stand of the regular season this week, facing No. 13 Texas Tech at 7 p.m.Thursday. Iowa State comes to Betty Lou Mays at 1 p.m. Sunday for Senior Day.
