Depleted Baylor holds GPS to 0-0 soccer draw

photo Rachel Paty, left, and Rachel Payne of Baylor surround Keyle Snyder of GPS Tuesday at GPS.

The Baylor girls' soccer team battled a lack of depth. The Lady Red Raiders' opponent, rival Girls Preparatory School, battled some rust.

Tuesday evening, they battled to a scoreless tie at GPS in a Division II-AA East/Middle Region match. It was a match that was controlled mostly by the Bruisers attack, which was kept in check with eight defenders often dropped back for Baylor.

GPS (8-1-2, 3-0-1) finished with nine shots on goal compared to two for the Lady Red Raiders (3-8-3, 1-1-2).

The visitors, who started the season with only 15 players, have been trimmed to 12 with season-ending injuries to Mary Elizabeth Clements and Kamryn Bloh and an injury also to Hayden Bryant. At one point Tuesday, they had 10 players on the field after brief injuries to Rachel Payne and McKenna Avitable.

"This has been us all year," Baylor coach Curtis Blair said. "We haven't made excuses all year; we're just dealing with what we have. The girls have had a great attitude and have never complained. I was pleased with how we played tonight. Our coaching staff put the game plan in yesterday, and the girls executed it well."

The Bruisers had the more dangerous opportunities. Akia Harris and Keyle Snyder created some opportunities all over the field for GPS, which hadn't played in 10 days. Snyder, who was shadowed by a Baylor defender at times during the match, hit a shot from about 25 yards out that glanced off the crossbar in the first half.

The most dangerous attempt of the second half was by GPS sophomore Sara Corum, who had a shot that rolled down the back of the net behind the goal.

"You have to give credit to Curtis. That's how he has to play," GPS coach Patrick Winecoff said. "We were having to go through eight or nine defenders in our attack.

"I'm proud of our effort. We deserved two or three goals tonight, but that's the way the game goes. We need matches like this to figure out how to score when we're defended like we were tonight."

Baylor goalkeeper Kaleigh Clemons had six saves. Savannah Williams had two for the Bruisers.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.

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