Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Baylor
Cowgirls Battle To Scoreless Draw
October 14, 2012 | Cowgirl Soccer
Oct. 14, 2012
STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma State earned its second-straight tie Sunday afternoon as the Cowgirls battled No. 20 Baylor to a 0-0 result at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex.
Following Sunday's match, OSU is now 10-4-3 overall and 1-3-3 in Big 12 Conference play. The Cowgirls finish the regular season with an 8-0-3 record on their home field and have not lost at home since 2010.
OSU was outshot in the contest, 25-6, but the Cowgirl defense and goalie AD Franch came up big to keep BU (11-1-4, 2-0-3) off the scoreboard. Franch finished with eight saves, her second-highest total of the season.
“Baylor is an extremely tough team to play against – there's a reason they've won a ton of games,” said OSU head coach Colin Carmichael. “They're physical, they're aggressive, they're well organized, they're disciplined, and all those things make them really tough to beat.
“We talked about having to match that and fight with them, play tough, and I thought our kids stepped up. I was really proud of the effort our kids put out.”
Sunday marked OSU's sixth shutout of the season, all of those being recorded by Franch, who now has 38 in her career.
“We played hard, and it stinks that we didn't come out with a win,” said OSU senior defender Carson Michalowski. “Defensively, we played great and got a shutout, which hasn't happened much this year. Offensively, we just didn't capitalize on our opportunities, but our attacking players also played great defense.”
Neither team managed much offensively in the opening half, with the Bears owning a 6-2 advantage on shots and both goalies recording a save.
The second half would be a different story, as Baylor racked up 13 shots, but was denied on three of those by Franch saves.
And both teams had near misses. BU's Dana Larsen blasted a shot off the crossbar in the 52nd minute, while one of the Cowgirls' best chances came at the 63:21 mark when a deep ball by Megan Marchesano sailed just wide of the goal.
Carmichael was pleased with his defense's ability to thwart the attack of the Big 12's top-scoring offense, especially off of set pieces.
“We gave up three goals on balls served into our box against TCU (Friday), and I thought 'What is Baylor going to do to us?'” Carmichael said. “We made a couple of adjustments, AD (Franch) dominated her area more, and it seemed to help. That's something we'll have to do moving forward – you can't give up goals off set plays at this level and expect to win.”
In the first overtime period, Franch made three clutch saves to extend the match, including a diving stop on a header by Kat Ludlow off a corner kick with just over one minute remaining.
The second overtime saw OSU earn four corner kicks within a 67-second span, but a pair of shots off those opportunities were blocked.
OSU returns to action Sunday at Milwaukee before closing out the regular season on Oct. 26 in Lubbock, Texas, against Texas Tech.
