Oklahoma State University Athletics
Soccer Prepares For Final Road Trip
April 15, 2003 | Cowgirl Soccer
Oklahoma State hits the road for a pivotal series with Nebraska and Colorado this weekend. After opening Big 12 play with a pair of wins, the Cowgirls have dropped their last five conference contests and need to secure at least one win to qualify for the Big 12 Tournament in San Antonio. The Cowgirls are currently tied for eighth in the Big 12 standings with Iowa State, while Colorado holds the seventh spot. OSU will head north to Nebraska to take on the Huskers at 7 p.m. on Friday, then it is off to Boulder to face Colorado in a 1 p.m. (MST) tilt on Sunday. The Cowgirls will be looking to capture their first win over Nebraska, as the Huskers lead the all-time series 6-0-0. NU won the game 3-1 in Stillwater last year. The series with Colorado is much closer and the Buffaloes hold a narrow 3-2-1 advantage over the Cowgirls after OSU won 3-1 last year.
Scouting Nebraska
Nebraska carries a 9-4-3 overall record and a 4-2-1 conference record into the contest with OSU on Friday. The Huskers are riding a four-game winning streak heading into the weekend, having defeated Baylor and Texas Tech, both by a score of 4-0, last week. Six different Huskers notched goals over the weekend. Against Texas Tech, Christine Latham snagged the game winner 32 minutes into the contest. Brooke Bredenberg, Kari Hogan and Iman Haynes then added the remaining goals in the game. In the Baylor contest, Nikki Baker struck just 32 seconds into game. Brooke Benderberg netted her second goal of the weekend and Kori Saunders rounded out the scoring with a pair. Latham leads the Huskers with 19 points on eight goals and three assists. Chipping in with seven goals apiece are Baker and Saunders. Goalkeeper Erin Miller earned Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors and is second in the conference with a 0.90 goals-against average. She has posted four consecutive shutouts, three against conference foes, and leads the Big 12 with nine overall. The Huskers have taken three times as many corner kicks as their opponents, logging a lopsided 152-45 advantage.
Scouting Colorado
The Bears enter the weekend at 7-6-2 overall and 2-3-2 in Big 12 play. The Buffaloes picked up a win and a tie on the road last weekend, coming to a 1-1 draw with Baylor and shutting out Texas Tech, 2-0. Baylor's April Robertson put the Bears on top six minutes into the second period, but Colorado's Fran Munnelly provided the equalizer three minutes later. The two teams remained tied at one after two extra periods with each team registering just one shot in overtime. In the Tech contest, Tiffany Booth gave the Buffaloes the lead for good 17 minutes into the contest and Shannon Kellogg provided some breathing room 20 minutes later. Munnelly leads Colorado with six goals and four assists. Also helping out on the offensive end are Nicholle Taylor and Lindsey Galas with three goals each. Sara Erksine and Jeanne Rankin split time in goal for the Buffaloes. Erskine holds a 1.14 goals-against average in 713 minutes and has logged two shutouts. Rankin has one shutout in 671 minutes with a 1.61 goals-against average.
Texas A&M In Review
In each of OSU's three previous losses, the Cowgirls have surrendered a goal in the first 15 minutes, twice in the first three minutes. This time around, the Cowgirls weathered the storm and held their own until the 25:34 mark when A&M's Christina Echavarry broke through for her seventh goal of the season. After surrendering the goal, OSU's defense cracked down and limited the Aggies to three shots for the final half of the first period. Senior goalkeeper Kat Doud went down while defending a corner kick in the 22nd minute of the game and was replaced by freshman Jackie Hinton. Ten minutes after entering the game, Hinton made a diving catch on a corner attempt to keep the score at 1-0 entering the locker room. With 30 minutes remaining OSU had the perfect opportunity to knot the score at one, but it was not to be. Courtney Robb and Jere Boykin out-ran the Aggie defense and faced goalkeeper Kati Jo Spisak one-on-one, but Robb's shot was wide left. The Cowgirl defense played tough in the second period, but Kristen Strutz found a way to penetrate and added an insurance goal at the 66:09 mark on an assist from Carrie Berend. The bad luck streak continued for Oklahoma State when Cowgirl defender Lauren Colwell deflected a pass that went straight to Linsey Woodard. Woodard, A&M's leading scorer, knocked in her 12th goal of the season with just under eight minutes to play. At that point, A&M's speed took and the Aggies upped the lead to four on an Emma Smith goal less than three minutes later.
Texas In Review
The Cowgirls battled the Longhorns to a deadlock at intermission, despite being out shot 5-3. The name of the game was physical contact as the two teams combined for 35 fouls in the contest, 22 in the first period alone. The second stanza started out the same as the first with neither team able to break through the opposing defense, but Texas continued to come at the Cowgirls and it paid off in the 63rd minute of the game. The Longhorns were awarded a corner kick that was knocked over the crossbar by goalkeeper Kat Doud and resulted in a second corner. This opportunity was not wasted and Texas took a 1-0 lead on a beautiful header from Lauren Field at the 63:26 mark. Wilson then snagged her second assist of the game nine minutes later, combining with Kylee Wosnuk for the final goal.
Head Coach Karen Hancock
Karen Hancock is in her seventh year at Oklahoma State, having started the program in 1996. She picked up her 50th win at OSU against Northeastern State and her 75th career win against East Central. In six years at OSU, Hancock holds a 54-67-8 record. Hancock led the 2002 squad to a 10-0 start, the best ever by a Cowgirl team and OSU upped its win total to 11 against East Central to set a school record for season wins.
