By Carson Vercoe | Sports Writer
It was a late night in Tempe. No. 9 Baylor and Arizona State came out of halftime looking to take the lead after an empty first 45 minutes.
The Bears took it in the 56th minute.
Sophomore midfielder Olivia Hess sent a powerful strike downfield to senior forward Theresa McCullough, who took one touch and struck past the Sun Devils goalkeeper Izzy Duink to give her team the lead.
Baylor (13-2-1, Big 12 6-1-1) added another goal to defeat Arizona State (8-5-3, Big 12 3-4-1) 2-0 Thursday night.
The Bears found themselves up one with nine minutes to go before finding their second goal of the night.
Freshman midfielder Brynnlee Bohannon intercepted a pass from the Sun Devils and sent a through ball into the box to senior midfielder Aryanna Jimison. As she has done all season for the Bears, Jimison sent a line drive past the Duink to put Baylor up two in the 82nd minute.
The score was Jimison’s eighth goal of the year, putting her in fourth in the Big 12. She led the match with eight shots, getting two on target.
The Bears leaned on their defense for the rest of the game to earn their third win of the year. Baylor is now tied for the Big 12 lead with Texas Tech as the regular season nears its end.
Both sides started the match defensively. Arizona State held the advantage with two shots to Baylor’s zero in the first 10 minutes but couldn’t put anything past fifth-year goalkeeper Azul Alvarez. She finished the match with five saves for the Bears.
Both teams struggled to find rhythm offensively, missing on passes and opportunities close to the goal.
Baylor started to find that rhythm, stringing passes together and moving up the pitch with ease as the first half progressed. The Bears put up 11 shots in the final 30 minutes of the half, but like the Sun Devils, they couldn’t turn them into goals.
Both teams went into the half with a high volume of shots but nothing to show for it.
The Bears outshot Arizona State throughout the match. They put up 21 shots with 7 being on goal while the Sun Devils found five shots of their 15 shots being on target.
Baylor continues its Arizona road trip, taking on the Arizona Wildcats at 2 p.m. Sunday at Murphey Field at Mulcahy Soccer Stadium in Tucson, Arizona.
