This Baylor win is UNT's fourth straight victory over Big XII teams going back to last year. Amazing, but Hedlund has NEVER had a losing season at UNT.

Soccer: Hedlund wins No. 200 as UNT tops Baylor

01:00 AM CDT on Saturday, September 12, 2009
By Brett Vito / Staff Writer
Winning the 200th game of his career would have been special any time for North Texas soccer coach John Hedlund.

The fact it came on Friday night against a Big 12 team just made reaching the milestone all the more rewarding.

Freshman Michelle Young scored twice and buried the goal in the second half that lifted UNT to a 2-1 win over Baylor at the North Texas Soccer Field.

Hedlund, the only coach in program history, improved his record to a remarkable 200-77-14 in his 15th season as the team’s coach.

“That what makes it so special,” Hedlund said. “We were able to do it tonight against a solid Big 12 team.”

Posting big wins has been a common occurrence for UNT under Hedlund, who has taken the team to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and never had a losing season in his tenure. UNT appears as if it is on its way to another memorable campaign after improving to 4-1 on the season, despite facing a tough schedule. UNT beat Texas Tech in its last game.

Hedlund had to wait until the final horn to know for certain that he picked up win No. 200 on a rainy night in Denton. Once UNT goalkeeper Mandy Hall had kicked the ball toward midfield and the final horn sounded, two of Hedlund’s assistant coaches snuck up behind him and doused him with a water cooler full of Gatorade.

“Coach was has been striving for his 200th win for a long time,” Young said. “We wanted to get it for him tonight.”

Young helped Hedlund reach that goal while continuing to build her resume in a solid debut season. The former Mesquite Poteet standout scored the game-winner from 20 yards out when she was able to turn on her defender and fire a shot into the top half of the net in the second half.

Young also scored the Mean Green’s first goal just two minutes into the game when her shot from a sever angle to the side of the goal deflected off Baylor goalkeeper Gianna Quintanna to give UNT an early 1-0 lead.

UNT appeared as if it might roll to an easy win before the game was delayed by a half an hour by lightning. The Mean Green posted the first four shots of the game, but saw Baylor (3-1-2) run off 10 in a row before halftime.

The barrage paid off when Lotto Smith scored on a shot right in front of the goal in the 19th minute to tie the game at 1-1.

“Getting off the field and having to sit took us out of our rhythm a little bit,” said Young, who has three goals this season. “Once we started playing again, we were able to get going.”

Baylor finished with 18 shots to nine for UNT, but the Mean Green held on, thanks largely to Hall. The junior finished with eight saves, including one when she knocked the ball over the crossbar on a free kick late in the second half.

“There were a couple of breakaways, but that was the toughest save I had to make,” Hall said. “With the wet conditions, I didn’t think I would be able to catch it, so I knocked it over the crossbar, so that we could set up and defend the corner kick.”

The save helped ice a landmark win for Hedlund, not to mention a key win for a UNT team that appears to be on a roll after beating Baylor and Texas Tech in back-to-back games.

“It’s always big to beat a Big 12 team,” Hall said. “We are starting to get on a roll now. Our offense is coming together and is putting up multiple goals in every game.”