Peyton Thomas was real quick to point it out.
After ties in their last two contests, against rival GPS and Notre Dame, the Baylor girls’ soccer team was extremely eager to win Thursday against Class A/AA seventh-ranked Chattanooga Christian.
“We came out angry,” Thomas said.
The angry Lady Red Raiders were held scoreless in the first half, but the more composed version got two goals and a 2-0 victory at CCS.
Baylor, the top-ranked team in Division II-AA and 23rd in the latest ESPN Rise national poll, fired shots from all angles early. Some went high, some went wide, some toward CCS keeper Taylor Thurman. None found the net.
The best scoring attempt in the first half came from the Lady Chargers’ Jennifer Fortmiller, who fired a shot that clipped off the crossbar.
“It’s been tough because we hadn’t been scoring,” Thomas noted, “so any time we had any type of opening, we took it because we all thought we could make it.
“In the second half, we got our goals because of our patience.”
Said Baylor coach Jimmy Weekley: “We definitely were pressing early. We were impatient at times, but in the second half I thought we moved the ball around well.”
Baylor (12-0-2) started the second half on the attack again with Chloe Brackett sending a cross to Mary Ellen Williams, who just missed a header attempt. Later, Kelly Pannell fired a shot from 25 yards out that Thurman couldn’t corral. Williams tried to score on the rebound, but Thurman made a diving save of her attempt.
“Taylor had a lot of great saves for us tonight,” CCS coach Cal Sneller said.
In the 58th minute, Baylor broke through on a free kick when Marci Carter placed a ball perfectly inside the box, and Gracey Prater was there to push it through for a 1-0 edge.
Thomas found Brackett for the icer 10 minutes later.
“The last three games, we haven’t been as sharp around the goal as we used to,” Weekley said. “Throughout the game we had kept the pressure up and created chances, but it was a relief to score.”
Sneller was disappointed with the loss but pleased by his young team’s reaction.
“The girls felt as though both goals could have been prevented,” he said. “They were frustrated afterwards because they felt that, with a little more effort, things could have been different.
“We had a couple of opportunities as well. The shot off the crossbar was no fluke, and it was encouraging to come that close against a team that has only been scored on twice all year.”