By Michael Haag | Sports Writer
Baylor soccer (8-4-6, 4-2-3) fell to the University of Oklahoma 2-0 in its final regular-season conference match. Even with the loss, the Bears will remain a three seed for the Big 12 Tournament beginning Sunday in Round Rock. Baylor dug itself an early deficit versus the Sooners (8-10-1, 4-5-0) and never gathered any offensive momentum. The game was a windy one, with recorded winds of up to 25 mph, playing a major factor in how both teams performed.
In the 5th minute of action, graduate student goalkeeper Jennifer Wandt made an early save over the top left of the net. Wandt finished with five saves of the game, however it wasn’t enough. Later, in the 11th minute, the Sooners were set up with a corner kick opportunity. The ball was sent into the box, deflected off of multiple players and ended up at the feet of OU senior forward Bri Amos. Amos shot off her left foot and watched the ball roll into the bottom left corner of the net, assisted by senior defender Cameron Tharp. The Sooners were up 1-0, continuing on through the first period.
A few minutes later, graduate student midfielder Ally Henderson-Ashkinos committed a handball penalty in the box, giving the Sooners a penalty kick opportunity. It was in the 15th minute that OU senior forward Jazzy Richards set up to take the penalty kick against Wandt. Wandt lunged the wrong direction and Richards’ shot fired into the bottom left of the goal. The Sooners, in just 15 minutes, took a commanding 2-0 lead.
In the 32nd minute, Baylor found their best chance at a goal. Sophomore forward Mackenzie Anthony had an opening, but found nothing out of the opportunity. Anthony and sophomore midfielder Gabby Mueller were the only two to record shots on goal in the first half, with one each. Mueller led the team offensively, recording two shots on goal in total, a season high for her. However, Baylor remained down 2-0 heading into halftime.
Baylor came out stronger in the second half, taking more shot attempts to try and level the score. Baylor had three shots on goal in the half, two coming from freshman defender Lorelai Stramrood, who came into the game and played 32 minutes. The other shot on goal for the Bears in the second half came from Henderson-Ashkinos. The Sooners were held scoreless in the last 75 minutes of action, however the Bears could not put any points on the board, resulting in the 2-0 loss.
Head coach Paul Jobson gave credit to OU on their performance, saying that he thinks Baylor played better in the second half. He said that they will need to start out stronger in order to compete in games in the future.
“Credit to OU,” Jobson said. “They executed their game plan really well. I thought our second half was better than our first, but we needed more from the first half to really be in the match.”
Baylor heads into the Big 12 Tournament as a three seed, facing off against sixth-seeded West Virginia University (9-5-4, 3-3-3) in the quarterfinals. This is a rematch of last Sunday’s double-overtime 0-0 draw on the Bears’ senior day. The winner of this contest will play the winner of second-seeded University of Texas versus seventh-seeded OU. Baylor versus WVU is scheduled for 8 p.m. Sunday in Round Rock.
