The Baylor boys’ soccer team led a pressure-filled onslaught to put a damper on Chattanooga Christian’s senior night.
The Red Raiders netted two goals in the first half and added three in the second for a 5-0 win Tuesday night at CCS.
Although the offense showed up on the scoreboard, Baylor’s defensive intensity was apparent early.
“We wanted to go at them from the beginning,” Red Raiders coach Curtis Blair said. “The past couple of matches, we’ve started slow, so we wanted to go after them and start fast.”
Strong defense kept the Chargers out of rhythm and allowed the visitors to create space and build possession. Baylor broke through in the seventh minute when Kyle Johnston headed a cross straight down, bouncing it in.
“Yesterday we had our best practice I think we’ve had all year. There was a lot of focus,” Blair said. “That carried over into tonight, and we started really well. We moved the ball and moved it quicker, and what that does is create a lot of space.”
The Red Raiders tacked on another score with 20:35 to go in the half, as Johnston netted his second goal on a free kick. He sent an arching ball over the wall and tucked it neatly under the crossbar.
“We got outplayed,” said CCS coach David Stanton. “I thought we would keep it tighter than that, but we didn’t play a lot of good minutes. Good teams will do that to you if you have a soft night.”
The Chargers were limited in their chances but threatened twice with shots that sailed high. Cameron Close also had a pair of brave saves, including a dive toward the left post to keep it 2-0 going into halftime.
Baylor did not slow down its attack after the break, and Connor Hill put in a header off Victor Ulmo’s foot in the 15th minute. Three minutes later, Johnston completed a hat trick when he slid a penalty kick into the right corner.
“We were giving them way too much space in the midfield,” Stanton said. “We were getting attacked by about five guys in the midfield.”
George Pettway put away the final goal with just over 15 minutes to play.
Freshman River Sarratt had a shot that went wide of the goal, and Porter Black had one that sailed high to preserve the clean sheet.
“Hopefully we start building some momentum in this part of the season,” Blair said. “In years past, this is where we’ve really come together and played well.”
Contact Idris Garcia at sports@timesfreepress.com.