The Baylor soccer team took a significant step forward this season just by qualifying for the Big 12 Tournament.

Now the Bears have an opportunity to expand on that in a huge way.

Baylor, making its first conference tournament appearance since 2006, holds the No. 7 seed and will face second-seeded Texas A&M at 8 tonight at Blossom Soccer Stadium in San Antonio.

Baylor junior Lotto Smith (11), shown in action against Colorado last month, leads the Bears with eight goals and 47 shots. (Rod Aydelotte photo)

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The Bears finished 11th in the Big 12 during head coach Marci Jobson’s first season with the program in 2008. Jobson’s first recruiting class made a tremendous impact this season to help Baylor improve four spots in the conference standings.

But the coach isn’t satisfied yet.

“Our goal all year long was to get here,” Jobson said. “But now that we made it, we don’t want the season to end. We are going down there to give it our best the same way these girls have all season.”

Baylor’s key five-match stretch of conference play came when it defeated Colorado, Iowa State and Kansas and tied Nebraska in Lincoln. In doing so, Baylor earned 10 of its 12 points in the conference standings, helping the Bears climb to a tie for fourth place.

That followed a rough early stretch when Baylor lost its Big 12 opener at home against Texas A&M, 1-0, tied Texas, 0-0, and lost at Texas Tech, 1-0.

However, Baylor junior Lotto Smith and freshmen Lisa Sliwinski and Dana Larsen combined for six goals and two assists over the next five matches to help the Bears improve to 3-3-2 in conference.

Baylor finished the regular season with an overall mark of 8-5-5 and 3-4-3 in the Big 12.

Texas A&M (12-5-2, 6-2-2) enters the conference tournament ranked No. 20 nationally. The Aggies eliminated Baylor from the Big 12 tournament in 2006 with a 3-0 victory in the first round.

Baylor is 2-5 all time in the tournament, its last win coming Nov. 1, 2000, a 2-1 overtime victory against Missouri.

cconine@wacotrib.com

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