Cowgirl Soccer Set For Return To NCAA Championship

Oklahoma State (14-3-3) at #2-seed Arkansas (14-2-2)

NCAA Women's Soccer Championship First Round

Fri., Nov. 15 • 6:30 p.m.
Razorback Field • Fayetteville, Ark.

TV/Video: ESPN+ (Brett Dolan & Kelly Roliard)
Radio: The Varsity Network/Stillwater Radio Pete 94.3 FM (Ryan Breeden)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Scoreboard/Updates: @CowgirlFC

About Oklahoma State

     • Oklahoma State is 14-4-3 and finished fifth in the Big 12 standings with a 6-3-2 mark. The Cowgirls are making the 14th NCAA Championship appearance in program history and will take on No. 2-seed Arkansas in Fayetteville on Friday night. If OSU advances, they will face the Pepperdine-California winner in the second round next week.
     • The Cowgirls have outscored their opponents, 42-15, while recording 15 shutouts in 21 games.
     • The 2024 season is the 29th in program history; over the first 28, OSU posted a 334-185-63 (.628) record. Head coach Colin Carmichael enters his 20th season at the helm in 2024 with a 251-105-50 mark.

Dubs

OSU's 14 wins is its most in a season since the Cowgirls had 16 in 2019. The total is tied for 14th in the NCAA this season - Fairfield and Utah State lead the country with 18.

Cowgirls at The NCAA Championship

     OSU is 11-9-6 all time at the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship and has advanced past the first round eight times. The Cowgirls made back-to-back quarterfinals (Elite Eight) appearances in 2010-11.
     The 2024 appearance marks OSU's first NCAA tourney berth since 2020 when the Cowgirls reached the Sweet 16 of the 48-team field.
     The Cowgirls' first NCAA appearance came in 2003, and they made six consecutive trips from 2006-11 and back-to-back appearances in 2013-14, 2016-17 and 2019-20

Scouting The Opponent

• Arkansas is 14-2-2 overall and leads the NCAA with 65 goals.
• OSU is 5-2-0 all time against Arkansas. The Cowgirls won the first five matches in the series but have dropped the last two. The last meeting came in 2014 in Fayetteville with the Razorbacks posting a 2-1 win.

In The Rankings

     OSU has appeared in the national rankings for six weeks during the 2024 season.
     On Aug. 19/20, the Cowgirls entered the national rankings for the first time since Aug. 30, 2021, when the Cowgirls were 22nd in the TopDrawerSoccer.com poll. They stayed in the polls for six consecutive weeks before dropping out on Sept. 30/Oct. 1. During that time, they climbed as high as No. 11 in the Aug. 27th United Soccer Coaches poll, their highest ranking since they were No. 11 in both the United Soccer Coaches and TopDrawerSoccer.com polls on Nov. 17, 2020.
     OSU also spent two weeks in the TopDrawerSoccer.com polls from Oct. 21-Nov. 4.
     The Cowgirls finished No. 31 in the official NCAA RPI.

It's An Honor

     OSU had seven players honored with Big 12 awards for 2024 and achieved a first in program history.
     Six Cowgirls collected All-Big 12 honors, which ranks as the second most in program history behind 2011's seven. OSU placed three on the All-Big 12 First Team, which is tied for the third highest total in program history behind the 2011 (5) and 2010 (4) squads.
     Earning spots on the All-Big 12 First Team were defender Alex Morris and midfielders Xcaret Pineda and Laudan Wilson, while goalkeeper Grace Gordon, defender Mollie Breiner and forward Gracie Bindbeutel collected All-Big 12 Second Team accolades.
     Defender Katelyn Hoppers was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team.
     Additionally, Morris was named the Big 12 Soccer Scholar Athlete of the Year, marking the first Cowgirl in program history to capture the award.

Clean Sheets

     OSU ranks second in the NCAA with 15 shutouts on the season, one less than UCLA's 16. The Cowgirls also rank fourth nationally with a .714 shutout percentage.
     • OSU's nine consecutive shutouts earlier this season stands as the longest streak in program history. In 2011, the Cowgirls had shutout streaks of six and five matches, which marked the previous best streaks.
     • The streak of nine-straight shutouts is tied for the second longest in Big 12 Conference history. West Virginia owns the record with 10 in a row in 2016, while WVU (2015) and Nebraska (1997) also had streaks of nine consecutive clean sheets.
     • The Cowgirls' previous best shutout streak to begin a season was three games in 2005.
     • OSU's 15 shutouts in 2024 is the second most in a season in program history and fifth all time in Big 12 history. The Cowgirls posted a record 18 clean sheets in 2011, which led the NCAA that year and is tied for the conference mark.
     • Grace Gordon's 12 shutouts rank third nationally this season, one behind UCLA's Ryan Campbell and Mississippi State's Maddy Anderson, and is tied with AD Franch for the most in a single-season in program history; Franch had 12 in 2011.
     • Gordon also set an OSU record with six consecutive shutouts (Sept. 29 Utah-Oct. 20 UCF matches); Franch previously held the record with five in a row in 2011.

A Lot Of Nothing

OSU recorded shutouts in its first nine games and was not scored on for 8:46:10, marking the longest consecutive streaks by a team to start the 2024 season. Auburn recorded eight-straight shutouts and did not concede a goal over the first 741 minutes of its season.

Sharing the Wealth

OSU's 42 goals this season have been scored by 14 different players. Logan Heausler leads the Cowgirls with eight goals, while Xcaret Pineda has six.
Sixteen Cowgirls have also recorded assists on the year. Laudan Wilson leads the Big 12 and ranks 17th nationally with nine assists, and Alex Morris has five.

The Difference Between Me & You

OSU has outscored its opponents 42-15 on the year and ranks 21st nationally in goal differential.

Can't Stop, Won't Stop

OSU's trio of starting center backs is a big reason the Cowgirls have allowed just six goals this season - and it's rare to not see them on the field.
Mollie Breiner, who collected All-Big 12 Second Team honors, has played the full 90 minutes in 14 of OSU's 21 matches and has been on the field for 1,785 of a possible 1,890 minutes. Ellie Geoffroy has played full time in 11 matches (1,698 minutes total), while Chloé Joseph has played 90 minutes seven times (1,697 minutes total).

X Gives It To Ya

     Junior midfielder Xcaret Pineda is one of the leaders of OSU's attack, and she had a breakout sophomore season to earn a spot on the 2023 All-Big 12 Second Team.
     Pineda started all 20 games for the Cowgirls a year ago and was second on the team with 17 points. She posted six goals and five assists, both of which rank third on the squad.
     The Illinois native led OSU with 60 shots, 25 on goal. She tallied three goals and an assist in Big 12 play.
     Pineda is OSU's third-leading scorer this season with six goals and four assists and earned All-Big 12 First Team honors.

She's A Giver

Laudan Wilson has nine assists on the season, which is tied for the Big 12 lead and ranks 17th nationally. It's the most assists in a season by a Cowgirl since Jaci Jones had 12 in 2019.
Wilson, who was named to the All-Big 12 First Team, leads OSU with 19 points as she's also contributed five goals.

Climbing

     Grace Gordon is tied for third on OSU's career shutouts list with 18 in just 40 games in a Cowgirl uniform. She needs three more to move into second place along with Erin Stigler; AD Franch owns the record with 38 from 2009-12. Gordon has 27 clean sheets in her collegiate career after recording nine in three seasons at Seton Hall.
     Gordon's 135 saves in an OSU uniform ranks seventh in program history, and she is currently tied for fifth in career goals against average at 0.79.
     Gordon was named to the 2024 All-Big 12 Second Team.

Breakout

     In her first two collegiate seasons, Logan Heausler played in just 17 games; she appeared in 14 as a freshman then missed the majority of 2022 after suffering a season-ending injury just three games in.
     Last season, the Houston native emerged as one of OSU's top threats in the attack, playing in all 20 games and leading the Cowgirls with 18 points. She tied for the team lead with seven goals and turned in a streak of four consecutive matches - three of those vs. Big 12 opponents - in which she scored a goal.
     Heausler leads the attack again in 2024 with a team- and career-high eight goals as well as two assists.

Last Year Best Year

     Alex Morris is saving her best for last.
     The Cowgirls' fifth-year senior wingback scored in back-to-back matches against Houston and Cincinnati, with both goals credited as game winners, and has a career-high four goals on the year after entering the season with two career goals in 66 games.
     Morris, who also ranks second on the squad with five assists after posting a career-best six last season, is No. 93 on the TopDrawerSoccer.com Midseason Women's Top 100 recognizing the top upperclassmen in college soccer.

Winning Is A Habit

    Now in its 29th season, Oklahoma State soccer has built itself into an established winner.
     • OSU has earned a berth in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship 13 of the last 19 years (beginning in 2006) and seven of the last 12.
     • 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 regular season titles in 2017 and 2019.

Oklahoma State (14-3-3) at #2-seed Arkansas (14-2-2)

NCAA Women's Soccer Championship First Round

Fri., Nov. 15 • 6:30 p.m.
Razorback Field • Fayetteville, Ark.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Gracie Bindbeutel

Mollie Breiner

Ellie Geoffroy

Grace Gordon

Logan Heausler

Katelyn Hoppers

Alex Morris

Xcaret Pineda

Laudan Wilson

Oklahoma State University Athletics