STEPHENVILLE, Texas — The Tarleton State women's soccer team will kick off its second season with an exhibition match, its first match against a Power-Five conference school, the Baylor Bears.
Just 363 days after its first exhibition as a program against Texas A&M – Corpus Christi, Tarleton State is opening its second season with an exhibition match against the Baylor Bears. This will be the first of two Big 12 matches this season. The Texans will travel to Houston to battle the Cougars on Aug. 27.
The Texans return 10 of their 11 starters from their final match last season.
Kiki Baurmann is the only non-returning starter who graduated in the spring. Tarleton in total is returning 17 student-athletes from its inaugural team and has added seven freshman for this year's slate.
Last season,
Mila Bettinelli lead the team with eight goals and 17 points and subsequently was named to the WAC All-Freshman Team. Bettinelli became the first Texan to earn a postseason honor from the conference. In addition to Bettinelli, 12 individuals were selected to the WAC All-Academic team.
Head coach
Pete Cuadrado and his staff are ready for their second competition season as a group. Cuadrado is in his 21
st year of coaching and has totaled 174 total wins across his tenure.
Baylor opened its 2023 campaign with a 3-2 exhibition win against Oklahoma. Sophomore Tyler Isrig stole the show assisting on the first goal and punching in the last two goals.
Baylor finished the 2022 season with a 4-11-2 record in Michelle Lenard's first season in Waco. The Bears return Ashley Merrill and Reneta Vargas who combined for nine of Baylor's 15 goals last season. BU loses its primary goalkeeper from last season in Lauren Traywick who played 14 games accruing over 1200 minutes between the posts. Madison Martin is the only returning goalie with Oklahoma transfer Makinzie Short joining the room alongside sophomore Ashlee Zirkle who did not see playing time last season.
Michelle Lenard is coaching her 16th season. Prior to Baylor, she spent 15 seasons at the helm of the Dallas Baptist program earning 201 wins at a .705 winning percentage. This is the first meeting between Baylor and Tarleton State in the two programs' history.
Tarleton State will open its regular season campaign at home with a Thursday night contest against ULM. The match is slated for 7 p.m. at the Tarleton Sports Complex. The match will feature a postgame autograph session and poster schedule giveaway.
