Arkansas snapped the nation's longest home win streak Thursday night.
Stefani Doyle's goal in the 84th minute gave the Razorbacks the lead and Anna Podojil added a goal off a takeaway in the 88th minute to cap a 2-0 victory over No. 22 Baylor. Arkansas snapped the Bears' streak of 15 consecutive victories at Mays Field in Waco, Texas.
The game was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. but did not kickoff until just after 9:15 p.m. A charter plane headed for Fayetteville was rerouted back to Fort Worth, Texas, because of an oil leak, delaying the Razorbacks' same-day flight out of Fayetteville. Arkansas' team arrived in Waco about 90 minutes before kickoff and flew home immediately following the game.
"Not only did we snap (the streak), but we had a crazy travel day," Arkansas coach Colby Hale said. "We had to overcome a lot of adversity to do that. I think that says a lot about this team. We know we can play good soccer, we know we're talented, but we want to be more known for what we're about, and I thought that showed an incredible amount of resilience and character."
The Razorbacks (5-1-1) recorded their fourth consecutive shutout and kept momentum heading into Sunday's noon home game against No. 1 North Carolina. Arkansas has outscored its last four opponents by a combined 21-0.
Doyle's goal came about 30 minutes after she had a goal disallowed for an offsides. Her goal in the 84th minute was a redirect on a cross from Parker Goins, who ran down the ball in the corner off a long free kick from Haley VanFossen.
An off-balanced Doyle got a touch on the ball wide left of the goal, but dropped it into the back of the net over the head of Baylor goal keeper Jennifer Wandt, who came out of the net to try and make a play on the ball.
"It was fantastic," Hale said. “It was a great play by Stefani and a great play by Parker.”
It was Doyle's team-leading fifth goal of the season. The senior from Dallas also overtook the team lead in points with 12.
Podojil, a freshman, added the insurance goal four minutes later when she intercepted an errant pass by Baylor defender Marissa Gray about 25 yards from the goal. Podojil stepped just inside the 18-yard box and buried the ball into the back of the net to the right of Wandt, whose two goals allowed Thursday doubled her season total.
Podojil has four goals this season.
"That settled the game down and allowed us to relax a little bit," Hale said. "Anna, I think she has like seven or eight goals already if you count the preseason. She's having a good freshman season."
Arkansas out-shot Baylor 20-12, but the Bears (3-2-1) were aggressive in the early minutes after halftime with multiple opportunities on the Razorbacks' side of the field. Arkansas goal keeper Katie Lund had six saves, while Wandt had seven saves for Baylor.
"The first half was one of the better halves of soccer since I've been here," said Hale, who is in his eighth season. "They were a physical, hard-working team, and I thought what we did with the ball was as good as since I've been here.
"The second half kind of evened out. We knew their coach was going to go in and let them know that that wasn't acceptable and they would come out flying in the second half, and the second half would be more of a fight, and I thought it was.
"I'm really, really proud of the players."
Arkansas has defeated Baylor two seasons in a row. The Razorbacks won 3-2 last September in Fayetteville.