By Will Chamblee | Sports Writer
Baylor women’s soccer completed their sweep of the Sunflower State on Thursday night, with a dominating 4-0 victory over Kansas State.
This is Baylor’s second win of the season, moving them to 2-2-3. It’s Baylor’s second victory in a row at home, as the Bears have thrived at Betty Lou Mays Field this season.
Baylor tested Kansas State early, as sophomore forward Elizabeth Kooiman hit the crossbar with 20 minutes left in the first half.
The Bears kept up the pressure when junior forward Taylor Moon sent a rocket of a shot towards goal, only for it to be saved by Kansas State freshman goalkeeper Alaina Werremeyer.
Freshman forward Mackenzie Anthony finally scored the breakthrough for the Bears, placing a header past the keeper into the back of the net with 18 minutes left in the half.
The Bears dominated the first half, outshooting Kansas State by a staggering 12 shots, 13 to 1.
“We had talked about it this week, if we were fortunate enough to get one, we needed to keep the pedal down and just keep attacking,” Baylor head coach Paul Jobson said. “The girls did a good job of that.”
Anthony continued to affect the game in the second half. A brilliant solo run from Anthony followed by a saved shot gave Kooiman the rebound needed to slot a perfect cross in front of the goal to Moon. The junior headed the shot in, handing Baylor a 2-0 lead with 27 minutes left in the game.
Only two minutes ater, the Bears scored a third goal, as junior midfielder Giuliana Cunningham scored a stunning volley off of a headed cross from freshman defender Chloe Japic to put the Bears up 3-0.
Japic showed off her passing acumen tonight, as she assisted two goals, Baylor’s first and third goals with incisive crosses.
“She’s the first one at practice, she’s the last one to leave and she’s working on every part of her game including her set pieces,” Jobson said. “She does a great job of putting the ball exactly where she wants it and where she needs it.”
“Everyone has their own specialty in the game,” Japic said. “For me, it’s become my specialty, just picking out where I want to hit and angle the ball.”
Cunningham scored again in the late stages of the game, as a Kansas State defender deflected the ball into the goal to finish out the rout.
“We have a very young team,” Cunningham said. “Wins like these, where we keep scoring, keep putting the gas on the pedal and keep showing that we can be offensive, because defensively we’re great, really shows the future of this team.”
Jobson said he hopes the team can take this win and turn it into momentum ahead of a huge matchup next week against Texas, the team one place above Baylor in the Big 12 standings.
“You can always build momentum off of a good victory,” Jobson said. “There’s some momentum. We’re scoring goals, we’re still playing solid defense.”
Baylor will take on the Longhorns next Friday at 7 p.m. in Austin. The game will be televised on the Longhorn Network.
