By Will Chamblee | Sports Writer
In one of the season’s biggest upsets, Baylor women’s soccer earned their first win 2-0 over No. 5 Kansas Friday night at Betty Lou Mays Field.
Freshman forward Mackenzie Anthony had the game of her life, scoring the opening goal and assisting the second.
Baylor head coach Paul Jobson said he wasn’t surprised by the upset, however, saying it had been only a matter of time before the team experienced this type of win.
“It was a matter of time before we had some success like that, scoring goals,” Jobson said. “When you got a defense that’s as strong as ours is, it keeps us in a match.”
Baylor dominated the first half, hitting six shots towards the Jayhawks goal.
The breakthrough came in Baylor’s first opportunity of the game when Anthony dribbled around a Kansas defender and slid the ball past the Kansas goalkeeper Sarah Peters in the 16th minute of the game to give Baylor its first lead of the season.
This was Anthony’s first career goal as a Bear. Anthony described the feeling of scoring the goal as “the best feeling ever.”
“My first instinct was to find the nearest person and celebrate,” Anthony said. “We’ve been waiting for this; we knew it was coming and it finally happened.”
Freshman midfielder Gabby Mueller almost doubled the lead with 18 minutes left in the half, when a low, driven shot was pushed past the post by Peters.
Mueller was very active on offense for the Bears, as she placed a game-high two shots on target, with three shots in total.
Kansas came out of the gates fast in the second half, holding possession and putting pressure on Baylor’s defense.
“We knew coming out of half-time they would put the pressure on,” Jobson said. “Our girls, especially the first 20 minutes, weathered the storm really well, especially for a young team.”
The Bears scored the all-important second goal nine minutes into the second half, as Anthony’s cross found the foot of junior forward Taylor Moon who slotted it in the goal.
Anthony said that the front three of Baylor’s chemistry has grown each game and that its finally showing results.
“We’ve been connecting so well lately,’ Anthony said. “I just knew Taylor Moon was going to be there.”
Kansas forced Baylor senior goalkeeper Jennifer Wandt to make several saves, following Moon’s goal. Wandt stood firm, holding out to ensure the Bears’ kept their fourth shutout of the season.
This was also Baylor’s first game that ended in regulation this season, as well as its first win over a top-five team since 1997 when the Bears beat Texas A&M.
While this is a huge win for the program, Moon said Baylor is staying focused on the game ahead, when the Bears face off against a tough West Virginia team.
“We also need to put our head down and focus on next week because West Virginia is a good team,” Moon said. “If we want to keep on winning then we’re going to have to stay focused on the task at hand.”
The Bears will take on West Virginia at 6 p.m. next Friday in Morgantown, W.Va.
