After the Baker University men’s and women’s soccer teams both made deep runs into the NAIA tournament in 2011, they earned some respect in the 2012 national preseason poll by being ranked in the top 10.
The women’s team is ranked No. 6 in the country and kicked off its season Tuesday against No. 9 Westmont College at Liston Stadium.
The Warriors got on the scoreboard first with a goal from Aolani Rueff midway through the opening half, but BU bounced back with an equalizer from sophomore Alexa Fryer to tie the match at 1-1 going into halftime.
The Wildcats then took the lead in the 75th minute as junior Ashley Sampson found the back of the net to put Baker on top 2-1. It did not take long for Westmont to respond as the Warriors tied the match again at 2-2 in the 79th minute on a goal from Kaci Mexico.
The game went into two overtime periods, but ended in a 2-2 tie.
“I think we came out pretty good,” Sampson said. “There is a lot of room for improvement.”
The Wildcats will continue to face ranked teams as five of the nine remaining non-conference matches are against top 25 competition.
“We don’t want to hide,” head coach Nate Houser said. “We want to go out there and play the hardest schedule we can. We want our girls to be ready for conference because that is when the emotions come into it.”
The Baker men’s team gradually climbed up the national poll last season, but this year, the Wildcats are ranked No. 2 in the nation.
The Wildcats return 10 seniors and four juniors from last year’s final four team and also have 15 freshmen who will join the roster.
Senior Rich Klein realizes that the team will no longer be able to sneak up and surprise opponents this year, but he believes the experience of the returners will help the team reach it’s goal of reaching the NAIA championship game with a chance to bring home a national title.
“We always say that we want to be in the very last game of the season,” Klein said. “We want to set the bar as high as we can, you know. I believe it is important to set the bar as high as you can and not reach it instead of setting the bar too low and reach it. Obviously we want to make it to the final of the national tournament and win the whole thing.”
The men’s team will open its season today on the road against No. 7 University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma and then play again Saturday versus Oklahoma City University.
The women will play against the same teams today and Saturday. USAO is ranked No. 24 while OCU sits at No. 11 in the women’s national preseason poll.
