The Baylor girls’ soccer team has waited all season for practice to make perfect.
Saturday, with the Lady Red Raiders’ state championship dreams on the line, it did.
Chloe Brackett scored what proved to be the winning goal on an assist from Kelly Pannell, and the host Lady Raiders overcame a two-goal deficit at halftime to defeat Brentwood Academy 3-2 in a Division II-AA state quarterfinal.
Baylor (15-0-2), ranked 21st in the ESPN Rise national poll, will play Thursday in a semifinal on its home field.
Brackett said the 1-2 combination with Pannell is something that is worked on every day in practice.
“I mean every single day,” Brackett said. “Kelly made a diagonal run and I passed her the ball in space. I cut and she passed it to me at the top of the box, and I was able to get a good shot off.”
Baylor hadn’t played since defeating Pope John Paul 6-1 on Oct. 14, and the 16-day layoff showed in the first half, when the Lady Eagles (10-7-2) had goals by Caylyn Harvey and Sarah Sermonet in the first 20 minutes.
The two scores nearly equaled the amount of goals – three – the Lady Red Raiders had allowed in their previous 16 games.
“They were very organized in the first half,” Baylor coach Jimmy Weekley said. “We could see what they were trying to do, but we couldn’t stop it.
“We lost a mark on the second goal, and [Sermonet] made us pay.”
The rust started to come off Baylor in the second half, when Taylor Pannell scored off an Alex Cannon cross in the first minute.
Baylor countered Brentwood Academy’s game plan by pushing midfielders Peyton Thomas and Marci Carter up higher to pressure the Lady Eagles.
“I thought that was the difference,” Weekley said. “We needed to create more defensive pressure on them.”
Baylor tied the score in the 66th minute when Thomas scored off a rebound of her own free kick. A minute later, Brackett scored and the Lady Red Raiders held off the Lady Eagles in the final minutes.
“I’m just so proud of our girls. They never quit today,” Weekley said.