Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowgirls Back At Home For Weekend Matches
September 16, 2009 | Cowgirl Soccer
Sept. 16, 2009
#21 Oklahoma State (5-2-0)
vs. USC (3-3-0)
Friday, Sept. 18 • 7 p.m.
Cowgirl Soccer Complex (1,450)
...
vs. Arkansas State (3-3-1)
Sunday, Sept. 20 • 1 p.m.
Cowgirl Soccer Complex (1,450)
Oklahoma State
After two consecutive weeks of road games, Oklahoma State returns home to the Cowgirl Soccer Complex for a pair of games this weekend. The Cowgirls will battle USC Friday at 7 p.m. before returning to action Sunday at 1 p.m. against Arkansas State. OSU is 5-2-0 on the season, the five wins tying the Cowgirls with Kansas for the most in the Big 12 Conference.
Kyndall Treadwell, Megan Marchesano and Annika Niemeier lead OSU with three goals apiece, and the Cowgirls have outscored their opponents 17-3 on the season. Freshman goalie AD Franch has recorded shutouts in three of OSU's last four matches.
Friday will mark OSU's first-ever soccer match against USC, while the Cowgirls have twice defeated Arkansas State by a 3-0 margin (in Stillwater in 2005, in Jonesboro, Ark., in 2007).
USC
USC is 3-3-0 on the season and brings a two-game winning streak to Stillwater. All three of the Trojans' losses this season have come against teams that are currently nationally ranked.
Players To Watch: MF Alyssa Davila, GK Kristin Olsen
Arkansas State
The Red Wolves are 3-3-1 on the season and were 0-1-1 last weekend at the UTEP Tournament.
Players To Watch: F Kara Nitti, F/MF Ashley McMurtry
In The Polls
OSU is ranked No. 5 by TopDrawerSoccer.com, 19th in the NSCAA/adidas poll and 21st by SoccerTimes.com. USC is ranked 12th by TopDrawerSoccer.com; Arkansas State is unranked.
On The Air & The Web
Both matches this weekend will air on Stillwater Radio with Bill Van Ness calling the action. Friday's game will be tape delayed on KGFY 105.5 FM and Sunday's airs live on KSPI 780 AM. Links to the broadcasts, as well as GameTracker live stats, can be accessed via the internet at the official OSU Athletics website: www.okstate.com under the Schedule/Results link on the soccer home page. Fans can listen to a live broadcast of the USC game via the OSU website link.
Becoming A Trend
For the third-straight season, Oklahoma State was nationally ranked in the preseason polls, earning a spot as high as No. 11 in the NSCAA/adidas poll. That ranking marked their highest ever in the preseason polls.
Along with being nationally ranked, OSU was picked by the Big 12 Conference's head coaches to finish fourth in the league race. That could be a good omen as last season the Cowgirls were also picked fourth in the preseason poll and then went on to claim their first-ever regular season conference championship.
In 2007, the Cowgirls began and finished the season in the national rankings, the first time that has happened in OSU soccer history. The Cowgirls ended the season ranked as high as 17th.
The '07 season came on the heels of a 2006 campaign that saw OSU achieve its highest national ranking ever -- No. 7 -- and earn a spot in the final national polls for the first time in the program's history.
That's Offensive
OSU is coming off a season in which it shattered numerous school scoring records and established itself as one of the top scoring offenses in all of college soccer.
The Cowgirls netted a school-record 74 goals, a total that ranked third nationally, and no team was more prolific than OSU with its 3.22 goals per game.
OSU, which averaged just over 22 shots per game a year ago, recorded 15 more goals than the next highest Big 12 team in 2008.
Fifteen different Cowgirls scored goals in '08, and the good news for OSU fans is that 10 of those players return this season. Also on the roster are five players who recorded at least 10 points a year ago.
The Defense Never Rests
One of the biggest reasons for OSU's increased success over the last several seasons are defenses that have been among the best in the Big 12 Conference.
In 2008, OSU allowed just 18 goals and recorded 10 shutouts. The Cowgirls ranked third in the Big 12 in goals allowed and goals against average (0.75).
The Cowgirls tied a school record with 12 shutouts in '06, and that total also tied OSU for the most blankings by a Big 12 team. Opponents attempted just 255 shots against the Cowgirls and only 16 of those found the back of the net. OSU ranked first in the league in goals allowed, and its 0.66 goals against average was also tops in the conference.
OSU recorded 10 shutouts on the 2007 season, which once again tied for the most in the Big 12, and the Cowgirls ranked among the conference's best in goals allowed (20), goals-against average (0.84) and save percentage (82.1).
Terrific Trio
OSU's 2009 senior class -- Siera Strawser, Kasey Langdon and Bridget Miller -- has had quite a successful career during its time in Stillwater. On the current list of the winningest senior classes in Division I soccer, OSU's trio ranks 11th nationally with a record of 54-12-10, a winning percentage of .776 (record includes this season). Among Big 12 Conference teams, only Texas A&M's senior class has more wins over the last four seasons with 56.
Three's Company
OSU had three players named to the 2009 preseason All-Big 12 Conference team, which was selected by the league's head coaches.
Seniors Kasey Langdon and Siera Strawser and sophomore Melinda Mercado were named to the 16-player team.
With three selections, OSU tied Missouri for the second-most preseason All-Big 12 players in the league. Texas A&M had four.
Records Are Made To Be Broken
A pair of Cowgirls are climbing the OSU career charts and are on the verge of vaulting to the top of several of those lists.
• Siera Strawser has 28 career goals and needs seven to reach OSU's all-time mark, which is held by Yolanda Odenyo and Jolene Schweitzer.
• Strawser is OSU's career leader in shots with 230.
• With 16 career assists, Strawser needs just three more to move into the top five on OSU's all-time list.
• Kasey Langdon needs just three assists to move into second all time at OSU. Langdon has racked up 23 assists in her first three seasons in Stillwater.
• Langdon has 21 career goals, leaving her only three shy of moving into the top five on the Cowgirls' career list.
• Strawser and Langdon rank fifth and sixth on OSU's all-time scoring list with 72 and 65 points. Odenyo's 90 points top the list.
Stay CLASSy
Kasey Langdon is one of 30 candidates for the 2009 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award for women's soccer.
The Senior CLASS award focuses on the total student-athlete and to be eligible, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: classroom, character, community and competition.
Along with her exploits on the field, Langdon is a Scholar All-American and Scholar All-Region honoree and a two-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team selection. She carries a 3.27 GPA in nutritional sciences-allied health.
