MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – No. 16 West Virginia had not lost a home Big 12 match in six-plus seasons, but its failure to clear a free kick ricocheting in the box led to a golden goal by No. 24 Baylor and a 1-0 upset Friday night.
In the 95th minute Camryn Wendlandt buried her shot in the left corner, only the second shot on goal all night for the Bears (10-4, 3-1).
West Virginia (7-3-3, 3-1), unbeaten in 40 consecutive home conference matches dating back a decade to its Big East days, had gone 24-0-2 all-time in Big 12 home matches. The Mountaineers fell despite dominating possession and holding a 19-4 edge in shot attempts and an 11-2 margin in corner kicks.
“You look all the way around the board, and we dominated every category but finishing,” Mountaineers coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. “It’s unfortunate that we didn’t finish tonight. I thought we played well enough to win this game, but you have to give credit to Baylor — they found the back of the net.”
Jennifer Wandt made a season-best nine saves for Baylor, which had never beaten West Virginia in six previous meetings.
In the 60th minute, Wandt pushed away Hannah Abraham’s curving attempt from 15 yards out. Nine minutes later, Wandt stopped a hard shot from Sh’Nia Gordon. And she was unbeatable again in the 86th minute, as a choppy shot from Stefany Ferrer-vanGinkel bounced over the Bears backline and might have sneaked under the crossbar if not for Wandt punching the ball over the netting.
“Their goalkeeper had a great game,” Izzo-Brown said.
Wandt also began the game-winning possession with a free kick from midfield. She played the ball into the box, where it bounced off several defenders and Baylor’s Sarah King before Wendlandt capitalized.
West Virginia had not dropped a league match at home since a 3-2 overtime loss to Notre Dame on Oct. 2, 2008.
