Cowgirl Soccer At Home For Big 12 Conference Action

October 02, 2019 | Cowgirl Soccer

Game Notes

#25 Oklahoma State (7-1-3, 0-1-1)
vs. #21 Kansas (9-3-0, 1-1-0)

Thurs., Oct. 3 • 7 p.m. • Stillwater, Okla.
Neal Patterson Stadium (2,500)

vs. Kansas State (2-7-2, 0-2-0)

Sun., Oct. 6 • 1 p.m. • Stillwater, Okla.
Neal Patterson Stadium (2,500)

Video/TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ (espn.com/watch/espnplus/)
Radio: KGFY 105.5 FM & stillwaterradio.net
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Updates: @CowgirlFC

About Oklahoma State
   • Oklahoma State returns home for Big 12 Conference action this week, facing Kansas Thursday night before a Sunday match against Kansas State. The Cowgirls own a 7-1-3 record and are 0-1-1 in league play.
   • The Cowgirls are coming off a 10-7-1 season in 2018 that included a 2-6-1 mark in Big 12 Conference play as they finished ninth in the league. OSU failed to make the postseason for the first time since 2005.
   • OSU opened last season 10-1-0 and climbed to No. 12 in the national rankings. After a tie at home against No. 6 Texas, the Cowgirls — who were hit hard by key injuries — dropped their final six games.
   • The Cowgirls return 15 letterwinners from 2018, including nine players who started at least 10 games.
   • The 2019 season marks the 24th in the history of the Cowgirl Soccer program; over the first 23 years, OSU compiled a 273-161-51 (.605) record. Head coach Colin Carmichael entered his 15th season at the helm in 2019 with a 190-81-38 mark.

Winning Is A Habit
            Now in its 24th season, Oklahoma State soccer has built itself into an established winner.
   • OSU has earned a berth in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship 10 of the last 13 years (beginning in 2006) and four of the last six.
   • From 2006-11, the Cowgirls earned six-straight NCAA tourney bids and advanced to at least the second round each time, including back-to-back Elite Eight appearances in 2010 and 2011.
   • From 2008-11, OSU celebrated four consecutive Big 12 championships — two regular season (2008, '11) and two tournament ('09, '10). The Cowgirls also won a regular season title in 2017.

This Week's Opponents
   • Kansas is 9-3-0 on the season and went 1-1-0 during the first week of Big 12 play.
   • Katie McClure leads the Jayhawks and is second in the conference with nine goals.
   • OSU is 12-9-4 all time against KU, including a 3-0-1 mark in the last four meetings.
   Last 3 Meetings
   2018 - OSU 2, KU 1 (Lawrence)
   2017 - OSU 3, KU 1 (Stillwater)
   2016 - OSU 1, Kansas 1 (Lawrence)
   • K-State is 2-7-2 overall and 0-2-0 in conference play entering a Thursday night game at Oklahoma.
   • OSU has won its only two previous games against the Wildcats.
   Previous Meetings
   2018 - OSU 3, KSU 1 (Manhattan)
   2017 - OSU 2, KSU 1 (Stillwater)

Quick Kicks
   • OSU leads the Big 12 with six shutouts and has allowed just seven goals, the fewest in the conference. The Cowgirls' 0.59 goals against average tops the league.
   • The Cowgirls lead the Big 12 with 79 corner kicks, and their 25 goals rank third.
   • Jaci Jones leads the league with seven assists, ranks third with 19 points and is sixth with six goals.
   • Kim Rodriguez' five assists is tied for fourth in the conference.

Home Sweet Home
   OSU is 5-0-1 on its home field in 2019 and did not allow a goal in its first five home matches. A year ago, the Cowgirls finished with a 5-4-1 mark in their first season at Neal Patterson Stadium.
   The Cowgirls were 9-0-1 on their home field in 2017, which marked the sixth time in program history they have gone undefeated at home. OSU went 84-16-10 (.809) at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex from 2008-17 and was 142-40-17 (.756) all time on its former home turf.

Veteran Presence
   Five seniors dot the OSU roster, and that group — Elise Hawn, Claire Gantzer, Jaci Jones, Julia Lenhardt and Kirsten Siragusa — has combined for 334 games of experience, which includes 271 starts.

Road Rarity
   Oklahoma State's 2-1 win in double overtime at No. 6 Penn State marked just the fifth time in program history the Cowgirls have beaten a top-10 ranked team on the road.
2018    2-1 (2 OT) at No. 6 Penn State
2017    2-1 (OT) at No. 8 Texas
2007   2-1 (OT) at No. 5 Missouri; 2-1 (OT) at No. 9 Notre Dame
2006   1-0 at No. 10 Texas

That Was Quick
   Gabriella Coleman recorded the fastest goal in Oklahoma State history when she found the back of the net just 18 seconds into the match against Oral Roberts on Sept. 1.
   Robin Rampey held the previous mark with a goal 45 seconds in against Southwest Missouri State in OSU's inaugural season in 1996.

Scoring Early & Often
   With career highs of six goals and seven assists through 11 games in 2019, senior Jaci Jones has already surpassed the best scoring season of her career, racking up 19 points. Jones' six goals tops the five she had as a freshman in 2016, while the seven assists surpasses the six of her freshman season.

Preseason Pub
   • Oklahoma State was picked to finish seventh in the 2019 Big 12 Conference standings in a preseason vote of the league's head coaches.
   • Junior defender Kim Rodriguez was the lone Cowgirl named to the 2019 Preseason All-Big 12 Team.
   • Rodriguez is listed at No. 90 on the TopDrawerSoccer.com Women's National Top 100 players for college soccer 2019.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation
   Kim Rodriguez earned All-Big 12 and All-South Region honors in 2018 following a sophomore season in which she tied for the OSU team lead in scoring with 14 points on four goals and a team-high six assists. The defender started in all 18 games for the Cowgirls and also led the team with 1,608 minutes played.
   But Rodriguez is not just a standout for the Cowgirls.
   After shining at the youth level for Mexico's national teams and playing in the 2014 and 2016 FIFA U-17 World Cups and the 2018 FIFA U-20 World Cup, Rodriguez was selected for the Mexico National Team in February 2019 and earned her first-career cap as a starter against Italy at the 2019 Cyprus Women's Cup.
   Most recently, Rodriguez played for Mexico at the 2019 Pan American Games, scoring her first-career goal vs. Panama and helping Mexico to a fifth-place finish at the games.

Fitting Right In
   A pair of new faces has added punch to the Cowgirls' offensive attack in 2019.
   Freshman Olyvia Dowell is third on the team in goals (4) and tied for second in points (10), while her 38 shots are a team high. She was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Week on Aug. 27 after recording a goal and two assists in her collegiate debut.
   After two seasons at Mississippi State, where she scored three goals and tallied five assists in 32 games, Gabriella Coleman transferred to OSU in 2019. In 11 games this season, she has a pair of goals and an assist, and her 24 shots is second on the team.

International Stage
   A number of OSU standouts have gone on to represent their respective countries as members of national teams, including two Cowgirls — AD Franch and Courtney Dike — who have been on FIFA World Cup rosters.
   Franch has been a member of the United States Women's National Team since 2012 and earned her first-career cap in 2019 at the SheBelieves Cup. The former Cowgirl All-American was on the roster of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup champion U.S. squad.
   Dike was the first-ever Oklahoma State player to appear in the World Cup when she earned two caps for Nigeria in 2015, including starting against the eventual champion United States team. Dike was a four-time All-Big 12 Conference forward for the Cowgirls from 2013-16.
   Other Cowgirls who have earned national team status include:
   • Coumba Sow was a starting midfielder for the Switzerland National Team at the 2019 Algarve Cup. Sow was part of the OSU program in 2016 and 2017, scoring three goals in 23 games for the Cowgirls' 2017 Big 12 Conference championship squad.
   • Current Cowgirl and All-Big 12 defender Kim Rodriguez received her first call up to the Mexico National Team in Feb. 2019; she started for Mexico at the 2019 Cyprus Women's Cup and again in the 2019 Pan American Games in Peru.
   • Other OSU players who have competed for national teams include 2003 Cowgirl goalie Kathrin Lehmann (Switzerland) and 2019 freshman forward Peyton Vincze (Wales).