By Marissa Essenburg | Sports Writer
Physical. Fast. Built to last.
All words that have defined Baylor and Texas Tech throughout the 2025 season, and Monday’s Big 12 Championship quarterfinal was no exception.
No. 23 Baylor soccer (12-3-3, 7-3-1 Big 12) refused to let its season end quietly. After 110 grueling minutes and a 1-1 draw, the Bears outlasted No. 4 seed Texas Tech (13-2-3, 7-1-3 Big 12) in a 7-6 shootout Monday to advance to the Big 12 semifinals.
Under a 73-degree mid-morning sun, the Bears made the short trip up I-35 to Garvey-Rosenthal Stadium in Fort Worth, where two of the league’s toughest teams went head-to-head once again — this time with a semifinal berth on the line.
With both teams evenly matched, Texas Tech came out firing on all cylinders in what turned into a tale of two halves and then some, as 30 more minutes were added to decide it.
The Red Raiders took “fast” and elevated it to another level, as the Bears’ slow start turned against them quickly, leading to a breakdown in the third minute. Texas Tech capitalized to take a 1-0 lead, carrying that momentum for the next 42 minutes
“We obviously had a slow start, not happy about that,” head coach Michelle Lenard said. “We took a risk with no cover on our back line and it backfired.”
Unlike the teams‘s last matchup, when the Bears controlled possession early and stayed on the front foot, Texas Tech set the tempo from the opening whistle, leading in every attacking category with three shots and four corners to Baylor’s zero through the first seven minutes.
“We’ve got to win more loose-ball duels; that’s what’s turning the tide,” Lenard said at halftime. “We have opportunities, but they’re beating us to every loose ball. If we’re going to be competitive, it has to start in the middle of the park and in the boxes. We started to change the tune toward the end of the first half, and we still have a lot of time. I believe we can get back in the game.”
And back in the game is exactly where the Bears found themselves in the 54th minute, as what started as a Red Raider-controlled match flipped completely.
After the tides tilted in the Bears’ favor to open the second half, defender Hannah Augustyn buried a right-footed boot to the back of the net just in front of the goal line after an Aryanna Jimison strike ricocheted off the hands of the Texas Tech goalkeeper, setting up Augustyn’s finish to even the score at 1-1.
With fouls stacking up 12-2 against Texas Tech, the Bears used stoppages to turn to their bench, injecting new energy into the match. But the momentum stayed even, and the 1-1 draw at the end of regulation forced overtime. It was the first extra period of the season for both teams.
Ten minutes for a ticket to the semifinal — and ten minutes of tension with no reward, as the match rolled into double overtime and another ten minutes of Big 12 soccer.
And after 110 hard-fought minutes on the pitch, it was time for penalty kicks.
It came down to two seniors, Baylor goalkeeper Azul Alvarez (eight saves on the match) and Texas Tech’s Faith Nguyen (seven). Both rank among the Big 12’s best between the posts.
With Baylor trailing 3-2 in penalty kicks and the season on the line, Jimison stepped up and delivered, burying her shot to tie it 3-3. If there were such a thing as quadruple overtime, this was it, as penalty kicks shifted into sudden-victory.
Alvarez came up big on the seventh penalty attempt for the Red Raiders, keeping Baylor’s hopes alive.
It came down to goalkeeper vs. goalkeeper, with an unlikely hero waiting in the wings: senior Ashlee Zirkel, who had played 22 minutes the entire season. She stepped up and buried her shot, sending the Bears past the Red Raiders 7-6 in penalties — their first shootout win of this caliber since defeating TCU in the same fashion in 2015.
After 110 minutes and seven rounds of penalties, the Bears will move on to face No. 8 seed BYU in the Big 12 semifinals, after the Cougars upset top-seeded TCU in penalty kicks. The game will begin at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Garvey-Rosenthal Stadium.
