After a tough 2020 fall season that was littered with COVID-19 scheduling and practice complications, the Baylor School girls' soccer team has regrouped and fired off this season like a cannon ball.
Quality depth, speed, playmaking ability and unselfishness has allowed the Lady Red Raiders to become one of the most dangerous teams not only in the state but the country as well.
Senior Zoey Mize has been sensational in the final third of the attack. The UTC soccer commitment has 11 goals and 13 assists through a 12-1-2 start which has Curtis Blair's program ranked 19th nationally by MaxPreps.com and second in the state just a year removed from a 5-7-1 campaign.
"We try to play as fast as we can and attack the flanks outside and get wide on teams," Mize said. "We get the majority of our attacking opportunities by simply playing quick and utilizing space. The great thing about our team is every game there is someone different stepping up to score. There are over 20 players on this team who can go out there and do great work for us."
The difference on the pitch between this year's team and last is vast.
A budding sophomore class has made a great difference and was exemplified when second-year standout Elizabeth Stophel scored a late game-winning goal off a nice find from junior Claire Holtzclaw to beat Nolensville 1-0 on Sept. 19. Ellie Carico, Sophia Mize, Violeta Vazquez-Villamayor, Sophia Mize and Skylar Schwartz have all been steady contributing sophomores as well.
Senior forward Melissa Oliveira is back after sitting out last year due to COVID-19 and the speedster with great footwork has been a menace on keepers with nine goals.
"All of my teammates are amazing players and keep great energy from our starters to everyone who comes off the bench," Oliveira said. "We just keep pushing each other to be great and it's really paid off so far."
Another major key to an amazing turnaround has been the unselfishness and leadership shown by a talented pair of sisters who have starred in new roles. While accustomed to playing forward in the attack, senior Aliya Cooper and sophomore Jada Cooper have used their strengths to ignite their team at right and left back on the defensive side of the ball.
"This group has bought into wanting to be successful as a group and not individual accolades," Coach Blair said. "Jada and Aliya have been outstanding. At first they were just great athletes that played soccer. Now, they are great at both. They do such a good job with distribution and their defending has been a big part of why we have been so successful."
After being outscored 12-4 by Maryville, Hardin Valley, Nolensville and Knox Catholic last season, Baylor has a 12-4 advantage in goal differential over that same bunch and a 51-15 overall scoring advantage so far this season.
Heading into Wednesday's region showdown with archrival GPS (8-3-1), which outscored Baylor 5-1 last season, Blair's team will look to build off a stout region win over Knox Catholic in which Zoey Mize had a hand in four first-half goals.
Baylor hopes the postseason will lead to CHI Memorial Stadium in East Ridge where the TSSAA state soccer championships for all classifications will be held from Oct. 27-30.
"We have been pushing ourselves so hard this year that there would be no other reason to not have winning a state championship be our final goal," Mize said. "The state title match will be here in Chattanooga. I feel like the ultimate dream of a high school player is to play and win a state championship in your home town with all your friends and family watching you."
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon.