Signal Mountain's girls' soccer team started hot but cooled off after a brief weather delay Tuesday night, opening the door for Baylor. The Lady Red Raiders outscored the visitors 4-0 coming out of the delay to take a 5-1 win in the season opener for both teams.
The Lady Eagles controlled the pace early, completing passes and putting pressure on their opponents' goal. Baylor turned the tide with a goal from Chloe Maize with just under 24 minutes to play in the first half, but Signal Mountain took the momentum right back off the foot of senior Riley Engels on the next possession.
The squads were knotted at 1-1 midway through the first half when the referees stopped the action due to rain and lightning, and although there was not much time to stretch before the half resumed, the break may have helped Baylor loosen up.
"Sometimes you want to come out and play so well that you play faster than you need to," Lady Raiders coach Curtis Blair said. "During the delay, we told them to just relax and play and slow things down. We started playing one-touch, two-touch, and it opened things up for us."
A few minutes out of the break, Lainee Bohannon took the ball at midfield and used a burst of speed to beat defenders before striking a shot high into the net.
Maize followed with her second goal, blasting a right-footed attack past a diving keeper with an assist from Carter Cooper to put Signal Mountain in a 3-1 deficit at halftime.
"We did a good job early of completing passes," Lady Eagles coach Richard Northcutt said. "We had the weather delay and kind of got out of that mindset afterward. Being the first game, I knew we wouldn't be a well-oiled machine yet. I can see there is potential to be a very good team."
Maize netted the first goal of the second half to complete a hat trick. The senior is playing her first season in a Lady Raiders uniform since sixth grade, making her return from club soccer.
"She's been great," Blair said. "She's very coachable and wants to get better. She makes players around her better, and that's what good players do."
Cooper put in the final goal, volleying a pass from Bohannon.
The Lady Eagles did not pressure the Baylor defense much in the second half and struggled to hold possession like they did early.
"I knew we weren't going to be completely fit and were going to fatigue," Northcutt said. "I'm not in the slightest bit demoralized. I can see we're going to continually get better."
Contact Idris Garcia at sports@timesfreepress.com.