The Baylor girls' soccer team didn't play its best match of the season Thursday night.

But Lady Red Raiders coach Jimmy Weekley won't mind that as much if he finds out his young team has been saving that performance for Friday afternoon.

Baylor defeated Pope John Paul II 2-1 on Thursday in the Division II Class AA state semifinals and will play St. Agnes for the championship at GPS on Friday at 2:30.

"I thought it was a frantic game," Weekley said of his team's semifinal victory. "I didn't see a lot of composure from us. We really didn't play that well, and in the second half we went back to some bad habits. But we got the result we wanted. We're there, but if we play like that tomorrow, they'll beat us bad."

The Lady Red Raiders, who earned four consecutive state titles from 2001-2004, are back in the finals for the first time since falling in the 2007 championship game.

They took the lead early against Pope John Paul II when Peyton Thomas headed in a Carissa Sanchez corner kick 6:26 into the match, but instead of settling the Lady Red Raiders down, Weekley said the goal had the opposite effect.

"I actually think it made us panic a little more for some reason," he said. "It was definitely nice to get that goal, but then we were frantic."

Baylor added to its lead in the 36th minute with Mary Ellen Williams working her way into the box. She followed her own shot that had been cleared by a Lady Knights defender into the goal to put the Lady Red Raiders up 2-0.

But Pope John Paul II cut that margin in half 17 minutes into the second half with a hard shot into the back of the net, and the Lady Knights continued creating dangerous opportunities for another 10-minute span.

"The worst lead to have in soccer is 2-0," Weekley said. "You have a tendency to let up, then all of a sudden, they get a goal and some momentum. For most of the second half, I feel like we played not to lose."

Lady Red Raiders keeper Katherine Rogers made five saves and her defense helped preserve the one-goal lead for Baylor, which improved to 17-0-1 after the win was secured. The Lady Red Raiders, ranked second in D-II Class AA, will have to make a quick turnaround before facing No. 1 St. Agnes (16-0-4) on Friday afternoon in a bid to earn the program's seventh girls' state soccer championship.

"I really am excited for them," Weekley said. "They've worked hard to get to this game. But to have to turn around and play in less than 24 hours is ridiculous. That's the situation we're in, though, and we just have to deal with it. We need to be focused and play our best game of the year."

(E-mail Jaime Lackey at jaimenlackey@yahoo.com)