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<h1 align="right" style="text-align:right"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;text-decoration:none">BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – August 26, 2023<o:p></o:p></span></b></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Baylor Soccer Records Draw with Texas A&M, 1-1<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">Merrill nets her first goal of the season<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">For more information contact:
</span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Katy Gilmore; 254-252-2182,
</span><a href="mailto:katy_gilmore@baylor.edu"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">katy_gilmore@baylor.edu</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black;mso-ligatures:none">THE RUNDOWN</span></b><span style="color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><br>
</span><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">COLLEGE STATION, Texas – </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">Baylor soccer recorded a 1-1 draw against Texas A&M Saturday night at
Ellis Field with the 9<sup>th</sup> largest regular season crowd in NCAA women’s soccer history in attendance.
</span><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
<span style="background:white"> </span><br>
<span style="background:white">The Bears were able to create pressure early in front of the 6,743 fans, scoring in the 16<sup>th</sup> minute and taking that lead into halftime. Leading point scorer from the 2023 season, Ashley Merrill laced together her first
goal of the season on a through pass from Tyler Isgrig. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">The Baylor defense and goalkeeper Ashlee Zirkel held the Aggie offense at bay in first half, as Texas A&M got off 12 shots and forced Zirkel to make three saves.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">Skylar Zinnecker got a shot off in the 26<sup>th</sup> minute that led the Bears to back-to-back-to-back corner kicks but BU wasn’t able to capitalize off of the
chances.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">With the second half underway, Zirkel picked up where she left off recording a save in the 47<sup>th</sup> minute. She ended the night with five saves off of 22 shots.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">Zinnecker created more chances for the Bears in the second half, once in the 63<sup>rd</sup> minute and later in the 83<sup>rd</sup> minute that forced the Texas
A&M goalkeeper into a save but she wasn’t able to put one away. </span><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;background:white"> </span><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
<span style="background:white"> </span><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">HIGHLIGHTS</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3">
<span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The Bears had 15 players see action<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3">
<span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Ashley Merrill scored her first goal of the season<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3">
<span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Tyler Isgrig recorded her first assist of the season<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3">
<span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">BU is now 4-14-3 all time against the Aggies<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3">
<span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Skye Leach made her second career start, her first of the 2023 season<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3">
<span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Skylar Zinnecker led the way with three shots, while Merrill and Hannah Boughton had one apiece<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3">
<span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Ashlee Zirkel made her first career start, totaling five saves while facing 22 shots<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">QUOTABLE</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
<dfn><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Michel</span></dfn><dfn><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;font-style:normal">l</span></dfn><dfn><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">e Lenard</span></dfn><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background:white"> </span></span><span style="background:white">on
the game … </span><br>
<span style="background:white">“Really, really proud of our team. We set our mind to coming out today and playing the game that we wanted to play. From the kickoff, we didn’t want to let the crowd or the environment or a really good team prevent us from playing
the way that we wanted to play and we did that from the beginning. Of course, there were momentum shifts throughout the game, they’re a really good team so we expected that, but we got on the ball a ton, we created a fantastic goal with a great finish, it
was literally how we drew it up, so we are really proud. We knew we had to be disciplined throughout the game, because either team could’ve scored another goal easily. We hate that is comes down to a penalty, but really proud to get a good result from a great
opponent in front of a great crowd. I am just proud of our team for handling this environment so well.”</span><br>
<span style="background:white"> </span><br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">WHAT'S NEXT</span></strong><br>
<span style="background:white">The Bears will return home to face Louisiana Tech in their home opener on Thursday, Aug. 31, at 7 p.m. CT.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><em><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">- BaylorBears.com - </span></em><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">-- <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">__________________________________</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:6.5pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"> </span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#154734;mso-ligatures:none">Katy Gilmore</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"> | Associate Director of Athletic Communications</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Department of Athletics | Baylor University</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">O: 254-710-2743 | C: 254-252-2182</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"> </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://baylorbears.com/" title="http://baylorbears.com/"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext;mso-ligatures:none;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="160" height="44" style="width:1.6666in;height:.4583in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01D9D879.41BD0790" alt="cidimage002.png@01D79F3C.9D2300D0"></span></a><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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