Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Memphis
Cowgirls Knock Off No. 13 Memphis
September 03, 2010 | Cowgirl Soccer
Sept. 3, 2010
STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma State scored goals in each half as the 18th-ranked Cowgirls knocked off No. 13 Memphis, 2-1, Friday night in front of 1,176 fans at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex.
Catherine Parish and Krista Lopez each netted their first goals of the season to lift OSU to 3-1-0 and hand Memphis (3-1-0) its first loss.
“Memphis is a great team and well deserving of their ranking; they have some great players,” said OSU head coach Colin Carmichael. “It's a big win for us. We felt like it was going to have to be a team effort. Individually, they are a little more technical than we are, but we knew we could grind it out and hopefully get the win and that's what our kids did.”
The Tigers outshot OSU by a 9-3 margin in the opening half, with the Cowgirls' first two shots — a header by Lopez and a blast from 15-yards out by Megan Marchesano — just missing their marks.
But the third time would be the charm. In the 36th minute, Parish took a cross from Katie Richardson and delivered a shot from 15 yards out that beat UM goalie Elise Kuhar-Pitter to the far post and gave the Cowgirls a 1-0 advantage.
OSU carried that lead into intermission, but it would not last long as just 2:32 into the second half, the Tigers' Julia Ignacio took a pass from Ashley Berra and beat the Cowgirl defense for the equalizer.
The tie would not hold up, however, as less than seven minutes later, Colleen Dougherty delivered a cross to Lopez, who delivered a shot from six yards out into the back of the net for what proved to be the game winner.
“I missed a couple others before so I knew I had to get one,” Lopez said. “During halftime, Colin pointed me out and said, 'You have zero assists and zero goals. You have to step up.'
“Getting that winning goal really makes me feel a lot better.”
Both teams nearly added goals the rest of the way. Lopez had a shot hit the post at the 59:11 mark, while a diving save from OSU goalie AD Franch kept a shot by Laura Laufenberg from tying the game with just over 15 minutes remaining.
Carmichael praised his team for their ability to answer Memphis' goal and emerge victorious against a tough opponent.
“(Memphis) came out strong (in the second half) and got the goal, and our kids responded,” Carmichael said. “That's something you don't know about your team, you just find out as you go along. They answered the call and came right back and scored. We're really happy with the response after giving up the goal.”
OSU returns to action Sunday when the Cowgirls host Murray State at 1 p.m.
