WACO (August 16, 2012) -- The Baylor women's soccer team kicks off the 2012 regular season by traveling to Rice on Friday at 7 p.m. The Bears will then return to Waco for their home opener on Sunday at 1 p.m. against Northwestern State.

The Bears are 11-4-1 in season-opening games all-time, but only 1-3-1 when that opener comes on the road. During the tenure of Macri Jobson, Baylor is 2-1-1 in season openers and 0-1-1 when the first game of the year is on the road. Jobson’s teams have won all four home openers under her direction.

In their last time out, the Bears notched a 1-1 exhibition tie with perennial soccer power Notre Dame. The Baylor defense held the Fighting Irish scoreless after a penalty kick goal less than 10 minutes into the contest. That performance allowed freshman Bri Campos to tally the equalizer in the 88th minute of action.

Baylor is returning 21 players, including seven starters from the 2011 squad that finished with a 15-4-3 record. The 15 wins tied the 1998 Big 12 Champion team for the second-most victories in a season and the squad became the first team in program history to advance past the first round of the NCAA Championship. The Bears also welcome nine newcomers to this year’s squad.