Cowgirls Ready To Make More History

Oct. 26, 2011

By Jessica Lantz

In what has already been a record-setting season, the Oklahoma State Cowgirl soccer team could once again enter into uncharted territory for the 16-year old program.

OSU, who finished 2010 with its most successful season on the pitch in school history, has one-upped itself by racing through the 2011 schedule unscathed.

Ranked No. 2 in the nation, the 16-0-2 Cowgirls have an opportunity to finish the year without a tally in the loss column, not to mention clinch the Big 12 championship for a fourth-consecutive season with a win over Texas Tech in their regular-season finale Thursday night in Stillwater.

“It's really important for us to win a conference championship,” OSU coach Colin Carmichael said. “Three years in a row we've won the tournament or the regular season (title). I know the seniors would like to win both, but certainly winning one of them - the regular season or the conference - is on our agenda, so it's a big deal.”

Along with the opportunity to sweep though the season as the top team in the league, Carmichael is preparing for a proper sendoff to the most decorated senior class in school history.

The group of seven seniors — which includes Sarah Brown, Elizabeth DeLozier, Colleen Dougherty, Krista Lopez, Melinda Mercado, Annika Niemeier and Kyndall Treadwell — is the fourth-winningest class of seniors in the nation, with a record of 69-12-10 thus far in their collegiate career. Carmichael knows the impact of the senior seven, not only on the pitch but in the classroom as well.

“There's no question, this group of kids, they're just winners,” Carmichael said. “They know how to win games, they take of their business off the field, they're in great shape, they do well in the classroom. It's a wonderful group of young ladies. If we can send them off with a Big 12 championship, clinching it on our home field would just be an amazing experience.”

The Cowgirls' final opponent of the regular season, Texas Tech, will be a tough test to cap off the year.

“Texas Tech is a great team. They are on the bubble for the NCAA tournament and in their eyes beating us could get them in,” Carmichael said. “They have got a great coaching staff, they play a system that is a little bit awkward and different from a lot of teams that you have to match up. They are a legitimate team, and we know we have to play well to beat them.”

The Cowgirls hold an additional card in their hands that is sure to have a positive impact — home-field advantage. OSU has not lost a regular-season contest on their home pitch since Oct. 9, 2009 vs. Texas A&M, a 23-game stretch.

“We really hope the crowd will get behind us and come out in force, the students and the fans,” Carmichael said. “We have great support when we play at home, and for this game with so much on the line and in front of a national TV audience, if we can get 2,000 people out there it would just really give our kids a boost.”

It would easy for the Cowgirls to look ahead to postseason play after such a banner year. However the team continues to focus one game at a time, despite the mounting pressure that goes along with a high national ranking in an unbeaten season.

“Obviously we're down to crunch time now,” Carmichael said. “We haven't won anything yet, and we just need to stay focused and deliver another few wins to get some trophies. There's definitely a little more pressure as you get late in the season, whether you are unbeaten or not. If you are competing for a championship, you've got that pressure.”

The team remains steadfast at the task at hand as they anticipate their sixth appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

“Our team has done a good job of just focusing on the next game and all we are talking about right now is Texas Tech,” Carmichael said. “San Antonio and the NCAA Tournament, those things are in the future, hopefully. What we have to do is just focus on beating Tech.”

Thursday's game will be televised by Fox Soccer with kickoff slated for 7 p.m.