Packed with 3,130 fans, Mike A. Myers Stadium was rocking Friday night as Texas scraped out a 1-0 win against Baylor to improve to 2-0-1 in conference play.

The Longhorns’ attack sputtered for the majority of the night, but graduate student goalkeeper Savannah Madden shut out the Bears with another solid performance in goal.

Sophomore midfielder Lexi Missimo missed her second straight game after her injury against TCU, and fellow sophomore Ashlyn Miller took her place in the center of Texas’ offense. Missimo’s absence was felt against Baylor’s disciplined defense as Texas struggled to find its usual attacking opportunities.

“Lexi’s a premier player in the country… number one recruit in the country, and we obviously miss her connectivity,” head coach Angela Kelly said. “When the game opens up like that, she would be able to take advantage. … She’s definitely on the mend, but we miss a player like that.”

Despite missing their best playmaker, the Longhorns found a way to win as sophomore forward Trinity Byars took matters into her own hands. Byars scored Texas’ lone goal of the evening in the 28th minute, weaving her way through the defense with some nifty footwork to send a shot screaming past Baylor’s junior goalkeeper Lauren Traywick.

“Trinity couldn’t have done much more,” Kelly said. “She was getting double teamed. (I) would have liked for us to be winning more of our individual battles as she’s getting doubled. It’s good that we’re going to be able to learn (and) continue to teach after a win.”

While the rest of the team had an off night for its standards, Madden continued to be a rock in the Longhorns’ goal, putting up her fifth shutout of the season. Her steady and consistent play keeps Texas in games, regardless of how the offense is doing on any given night.

“That’s a super senior, another leader back there,” Kelly said. “Lots of those (nine saves) were in and around her, but the one down here, top hand, that’s just an absolute classy save.”

Seeing as Baylor held one of the nation’s leading offenses to just 11 total shots and four on goal, Kelly praised the Bears as they pushed the Longhorns to the limit in a close conference battle.

“You’ve got to give Baylor credit,” Kelly said. “They battled, and they certainly didn’t play like a 2-5-2 team.”

Proud of her team’s resiliency, Kelly hopes that her Longhorns can continue to win gritty battles like Friday’s game going forward. Texas will play Kansas State next at home Oct. 6, looking to fight its way to another win.

“I definitely think that we have a lot of fight in us,” Kelly said. “We’ve shown (this) over the course of Gonzaga, 3-2 (against) Florida, obviously the 2-2 tie on a really hot Sunday afternoon against a great UCF team. … That showed some tremendous guts and some grit.”