WACO, Texas—It was a battle for 90 minutes, but the Northwestern State soccer team dropped a 4-2 decision to No. 14 Baylor.
The Lady Demons received goals from sophomore Kiara Padilla and freshman Olivia Draguicevich. It was the first goal of the season for both players.
Padilla received a long pass and sent a rocket to the top left corner from 19 yards out, beating Baylor's Maya Bellomo, who didn't have much of a chance of stopping it. Less than a minute later, Draguicevich was dragged down in the box, which resulted in a penalty kick. She scored bottom left corner, which was the final tally of the contest.
It was Padilla's second career goal after scoring against Southern last season. For Draguicevich, it is her first official goal as a Lady Demon, as she also scored in the exhibition against Little Rock.
Baylor scored the first four goals before NSU scored the final two. Co-head coach Jess Jobe is pleased with the way the team battled back after falling behind 4-0, never giving up.
"I'm proud of the way we battled and competed for all 90 minutes," Jobe said. "We proved we can play early on, even against a team like Baylor. We're going to grow from being stretched this weekend."
After playing to a stalemate the first 13 minutes of the game, Baylor scored first on a goal by Camryn Wendlandt. She received the ball a few steps into the box and shook loose of the defense and snuck it past Acelya Aydogmus in the bottom left corner. Aydogmus tipped it, but it was not enough to keep it from going to the back of the net.
The other goal of the opening period was scored by Michaela Gorman, who had a clean look off a pass from Wendlandt and it was 2-0 at halftime for the second consecutive match.
Less than four minutes into play in the second half, Raegan Padgett scored off a Northwestern State turnover, as she shot a laser to the top left corner of the net from outside the box. Aydogmus had no chance, and Baylor extended the lead. It would go to 4-0 following a penalty kick goal by Eva Mitchell, who bounced one through the right side to the open net.
That penalty kick was the first of three goals in the span of a minute, as Padilla and Draguicevich scored the first two goals for the Lady Demons in 2019 immediately after.
North Texas attempted 25 shots, with 15 on net on Thursday night. Against Baylor, that number was trimmed to 16 shots and 10 on goal. Sophomore defender Natalee Henry had a lot to with that, thwarting a number of Baylor opportunities.
'We felt like Natalee was a bright spot against North Texas," Jobe said. "She has made a consistent impact and did a great job against Reagan Padgett, who is probably Baylor's fastest player. Natalee was up to the challenge."
Baylor outshot NSU 16-6 and shots on goal 10-3. Draguicevich had three of the six shots for the Lady Demons, and two of the three on net.
The Lady Demons wrap up their three-match road swing to begin the regular season on Friday at Grambling before coming home to Natchitoches for their first regular season home contest against Louisiana Tech.
