No. 8 Baylor is headed back into postseason play with a familiar opponent waiting on the other side.
The Bears will face No. 25 Houston on Monday at 8 p.m.
CT in the Big 12 Soccer Tournament quarterfinals at Texas Health Mansfield Stadium in Mansfield, Texas, with the final quarterfinal match of the round set to stream on ESPN+.
Baylor arrives with plenty of momentum from the regular season, finishing 15-3-1 and posting the program’s most wins since 2018, when BU went 20-0. The Bears earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament after going 8-2-1 in Big 12 play, including an undefeated conference run at home.
Houston comes in as the No. 6 seed after a 11-4-4 regular season and a 7-3-1 mark in league play. The Cougars closed the regular season with a loss to Baylor last Thursday, when the Bears took a 2-1 win in Waco.
That meeting featured goals from both Noelle Sather and Lauren Omholt for Baylor. Sather delivered the winner in the 55th minute off a corner, giving her five goals on the season.
If Baylor gets past Houston, it would move on to Wednesday’s semifinal round. There, the Bears would meet the winner of No. 2 seed Texas Tech and No. 7 seed UCF, a game scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CT on Monday.
Baylor has already seen most of the field, with BYU and UCF the only teams it has not faced entering the tournament. The Bears are one of six nationally ranked teams in the bracket, alongside No.
7 Texas Tech, No. 13 BYU, No.
18 Kansas, No. 18 Colorado and No.
25 Houston.
In Other News...
Joe Klanderman Just Raised The Stakes For Baylors Finish
Joe Klanderman has given Baylor a jolt at exactly the right moment, steering the program to back-to-back wins since taking over as interim head coach after Dave Arandas firing. The Bears are 6-3 overall and 4-2 in Big 12 play, and while the coaching change was abrupt, the on-field response has kept Baylor in the conversation for the conference title race.
The finish, though, is where things get interesting. Baylor still has three tough games left, and those results will shape not only the Bears postseason path but also the conversation around Klandermans future. What started as a temporary assignment is now drawing real attention, with the interim coachs candidacy for the permanent job beginning to surface as the stakes keep rising. [Read more 🡒]
Baylors Offense Looked Dangerous But One Concern Still Lingers
Baylors Homecoming win over Iowa State had plenty to like on the offensive side, with DJ Lagway making his mark as both a passer and runner in a 42-31 victory that showed how many different ways the Bears can move the ball. Production came from several position groups, and the overall balance gave the offense a more dangerous look than it has shown at times this season.
Still, the game also left one familiar concern hanging around. Baylors defense got to the quarterback with three sacks and finished with nine tackles for loss, but Iowa State was still able to lean on its rushing attack and stay in the game longer than the Bears would have preferred. Special teams did its part with clean extra points and solid punting, yet the defensive run-stopping issue remains the piece that could matter most as the schedule moves on. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor Just Got The Interim-Coach Boost Fans Were Hoping For
Baylors season took another step forward Saturday with a 42-31 win over Iowa State, a result that pushed the Bears to 6-3 and made them bowl-eligible. It also gave Joe Klanderman his first home victory as Baylors interim head coach, a useful marker for a program trying to steady itself while still keeping its focus on the field.
The Bears did it with offense, scoring 42 points and holding the lead after halftime even as Iowa State found room on the ground through Aiden Flora. For Baylor, the bigger takeaway was the combination of progress and urgency that comes with this stretch of the season, when every win can change the tone around a team and every performance starts to matter a little more. [Read more 🡒]