Cowgirls Begin Defense Of Big 12 Championship

Sept. 19, 2012

#7 Oklahoma State (9-1-0)
at Kansas (6-2-1)
Friday, Sept. 21 • 5 p.m.
Jayhawk Soccer Complex (1,000)
...
at West Virginia (4-3-3)
Sunday, Sept. 23 • 11 a.m.
Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium (1,650)

Oklahoma State
    OSU begins defense of its Big 12 Conference championship with the start of league play this weekend as the seventh-ranked Cowgirls travel to Kansas and West Virginia. OSU is 9-1-0 on the season and tied for fourth in the NCAA in winning percentage. The Cowgirls will take on KU Friday at 5 p.m. before a Sunday showdown with conference newcomer WVU at 11 a.m. (CST).
     The Cowgirls are coming off the best season in school history after going 22-2-2 a year ago, along the way setting a school record for wins, advancing to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight for the second-straight year and winning a fourth consecutive Big 12 Conference championship.
     In 2012, OSU returns six starters from last season, led by a senior trio that includes All-American AD Franch and All-Big 12 performers Carson Michalowski and Megan Marchesano. This year's senior class is five players strong, and that group has won over 80 percent of its games.
     OSU is the preseason favorite to repeat as Big 12 regular season champions, and the Cowgirls will be looking for their seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance in 2012.

The Opponents
    Kansas is 6-2-1 on the season entering conference play. OSU is 8-7-3 all time against the Jayhawks and has won five-straight meetings in the series. Since 2006, the Cowgirls are 6-0-1 vs. KU.
     West Virginia opens Big 12 play Friday against Texas Tech and goes into the match with a 4-3-3 record. Sunday's contest will mark the first-ever meeting between the Mountaineers and Cowgirls on the pitch.

On The Air & The Web
    Fans wishing to follow this weekend's matches can do so in a variety of ways. Live stats for both matches can be accessed at www.okstate.com (link is under Schedule). Friday's match at Kansas will be carried live by Stillwater Radio and airs on KGFY 105.5 FM, and that broadcast can also be accessed online at okstate.com. Fans can watch Sunday's game at West Virginia online via a free WebStream at www.WVUsports.com.

Big 12's Best
    OSU was selected by the Big 12's coaches -- as well as several other outlets -- as the favorite to repeat as conference champions in 2012. The Cowgirls have won four consecutive Big 12 titles and has captured five conference championships in the last nine seasons -- three tournament (2003, '09, '10) and two regular season (2008, '11).
     OSU finished the 2011 regular season 17-0-2, joining the 1996 Nebraska team as the only Big 12 Conference teams in history to go unbeaten during the regular season.
     The Cowgirls went 6-0-2 in conference play to claim their second regular-season Big 12 title, and in doing so they became the first Big 12 team since Texas A&M in 2002 to complete the league schedule without a loss.

Much Respect
    The Cowgirls were ranked No. 5 in the NSCAA/Continental Tire preseason poll, which marks the highest preseason ranking in program history. After moving up two spots to No. 3 and holding that ranking for two weeks, OSU is once again No. 7 in this week's poll. OSU is also ranked in the top 10 by several other outlets this week -- No. 4 by College Sports Madness, No. 6 by TopDrawerSoccer.com and and No. 8 by Soccer America.
     With this week's polls, OSU extended its string of consecutive weeks in the national rankings to 33, a program-record streak that dates back to the 2010 preseason, but the Cowgirls did have a record streak of 16-straight weeks being ranked in the top five of the NSCAA poll come to an end. They were ranked in the top five for the final 12 weeks in 2011, including a span of eight weeks in which they held the No. 2 spot.
     OSU was ranked No. 5 in the final 2011 NSCAA poll, which marked the second-straight year the Cowgirls finished fifth in the final national rankings.

Seniors Rule
    OSU's 2012 senior class (Franch, Gray, Kippenberger, Marchesano and Michalowski) is the second-winningest senior class in the nation. Over the last three-plus years, the Cowgirls own a 66-14-6 (.802) record. The next closest senior class win total from the Big 12 is West Virginia with 49.
     Stanford's senior class leads the way with a 79-3-4 mark.

Second To One
    With its 51-7-4 record since 2010, OSU owns the second-most wins in the nation over the last two-plus seasons. The Cowgirls' win total trails only Stanford, which is 54-2-4 over the span.

Making History
    OSU is coming off a record-setting 2011 season in which the Cowgirls captured the second regular season Big 12 championship in program history before advancing to the NCAA Championship Elite Eight for the second-straight year. OSU finished the season with a 22-2-2 record, which included an 8-2-0 conference mark. The 22 wins is a school record.

Century Mark
    With the win over Creighton on Sept. 2, 2011, OSU head coach Colin Carmichael notched his 100th career victory. In his eighth season at the helm, Carmichael sports a career mark of 125-30-19 (.773).
     Karen Hancock, now a Cowgirl assistant, served as OSU's first-ever head coach and was 110-89-19 in 11 seasons.

21 & 15
    OSU set a program record with a 21-match unbeaten streak to open the 2011 season. The Cowgirls' first loss came to Texas A&M in the Big 12 Championship final.
     The Cowgirls won their first 15 games in 2011, which also set a school record.

Home Sweet Home
    OSU is 32-1-1 at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex since 2010, and the Cowgirls sport a 50-3-1 record (.933) on their home field since 2008. They are 108-27-8 (.780) all time on their current home field.

Young Guns
    OSU's regular starting lineup consists of four freshmen and three sophomores. And on a roster that includes 11 freshmen, a talented crop of newcomers is already having an immediate impact on the pitch, with four of them -- Allie Stephenson, Kelsey Bass, Madison Mercado and Makenzie Kahan -- earning a spot in the starting lineup in each of the Cowgirls' first 10 games.
     Freshmen have combined to record nine of OSU's 25 goals and eight of its 14 assists.

Hermann Watch
    For the sixth-straight year, OSU placed a player on the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy Watch List as senior goalie AD Franch made the 38-player list.
     The Hermann Trophy is considered the highest individual honor in collegiate soccer.
     Franch was one of 15 semifinalists for the Hermann Trophy in 2010 and 2011. Yolanda Odenyo (2008) is the only other Cowgirl to be named a semifinalist.

Star Watch
    OSU had four players named to the 2012 Preseason All-Big 12 Team -- goalie AD Franch, defender Carson Michalowski, forward Megan Marchesano and midfielder Taylor Mathews. The Cowgirls' four selections tied West Virginia for most in the league.
     Franch is a three-time All-Big 12 First Team honoree, while Michalowski earned All-Big 12 First Team honors as a junior after being named to the second team as a sophomore. Marchesano was a second-team selection in 2011.
     Franch has also been tabbed a preseason All-American by Soccer America, while she and Michalowski are preseason All-American choices by College Sports Madness.

Shutouts and Scores
    OSU has established itself as one of the top defensive programs in the country. The Cowgirls led the Big 12 in shutouts in five of the last six seasons (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011), recording 74 shutouts in 145 games during that span, and have four shutouts in 10 games this season.
     In 2011, OSU led the NCAA with 18 shutouts and a 0.337 goals against average, and the Cowgirls' .922 save percentage ranked as the fourth-best in a single season in NCAA history.
     The Cowgirls don't just thrive on defense. They've also led the Big 12 in goals scored in two of the last four seasons (74 in '08 and 52 in '10); they were second in the league with 56 goals a year ago and are currently second this season with 25. Their 3.22 goals per game average in 2008 led the NCAA.

You Get Nothing
    With the rest of her senior season still remaining, goalie AD Franch already owns OSU's career shutouts record with 36. She set the mark against Oklahoma on Aug. 26, 2011, by notching her 22nd shutout in just her 51st career game. Erin Stigler, whose record Franch broke, had 21 shutouts in 64 games from 2005-08.
     Franch finished her junior campaign with an OSU single-season record 12 shutouts. She led the Big 12 in shutouts in each of her first three collegiate seasons, setting a then-OSU record with 11 as a freshman and then recording nine in 2010.
     Franch's 36 shutouts rank second in Big 12 history (behind Nebraska's Karina LeBlanc) and are tied for seventh on the NCAA's all-time list (Wisconsin's Heather Taggart has the record w/52).
     A native of Salina, Kan., Franch also owns OSU's career goals-against average record at 0.61, which ranks fifth all time in the Big 12. She allowed just seven goals in 20 games a year ago, and her 0.35 goals-against average ranked second nationally.

Kelley Makes 'Em Count
    Junior midfielder Kristen Kelley has a knack for big goals as six of her nine career scores have been game winners. As a sophomore, each of her three goals was a game winner in a 1-0 contest.

Award-Winning Performance
    Freshman midfielder Madison Mercado was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Aug. 28 after a weekend in which she recorded a pair of goals in a win over Creighton. She is the first Cowgirl freshman to notch multiple goals in a game since 2010.

Scoring Machine
    Senior forward Megan Marchesano continues to make her mark as one of the top scorers in Oklahoma State history.
     Through 10 games this season, Marchesano leads the Cowgirls with six goals and 14 points, both of which rank in the top three of the Big 12. She is also second in the league and ranks 16th nationally with three game-winning goals. She has scored goals in six of OSU's last eight games, which includes a streak of four-straight matches with a score (Vandy, Creighton, UAB, Memphis).
     As a junior, Marchesano earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors as a utility player after racking up a team-high 10 assists and adding five goals.
     In 79 career games, Marchesano ranks in the top 10 on OSU's career charts in goals (9th with 23), assists (9th with 16) and points (9th with 62).

Mathews In The Midfield
    OSU returns its top scorer from a year ago in junior midfielder Taylor Mathews, a 2012 preseason All-Big 12 pick.
     Mathews led the Cowgirls with nine goals and 25 points in 2011 and also added seven assists, all totals that ranked among the top 10 in the Big 12. In two-plus seasons in Stillwater, she has 14 goals and 11 assists.

They Shoot, They Score
    Through 10 games this season, OSU's 25 goals trail only Baylor's 28 for the most in the league. The Cowgirls are also second in the league with 64 points and third with 184 shots.

Big Shoes To Fill
    OSU lost eight players off last season's squad, and that senior class set a lofty standard to maintain. The group of Sarah Brown, Elizabeth DeLozier, Colleen Dougherty, Becky Garrett, Krista Lopez, Melinda Mercado, Annika Niemeier and Kyndall Treadwell finished as the NCAA's fourth-winningest 2011 senior class as OSU went 75-14-10 (.808) over their four seasons.
     Seven players in the class played 84 or more games in their careers, and the class included an All-American and two-time Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year (Mercado) as well as five players who earned All-Big 12 status during their tenure in Stillwater.

Clutch When It Counts
    OSU has made seven appearances in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship and ranks ninth all-time in tourney winning percentage among teams that have played at least 15 games. The Cowgirls are 9-4-4 in the NCAA Tournament, which translates to a .647 winning percentage.

Coach Carmichael Radio Show
    OSU head coach Colin Carmichael will discuss all things Cowgirl soccer during a radio show throughout the 2012 season.
     The show is hosted by the voice of Cowgirl soccer, Bill Van Ness, and will air live from the Old School Bagel Cafe in Stillwater from 6-7 p.m. on KSPI 93.7 FM. Fans can also listen to the show online at okstate.tv.
     Remaining shows are scheduled on the following dates: Sept. 25, Oct. 9, Oct. 23, with a fourth show to be determined.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Kelsey Bass

Sarah Brown

Elizabeth DeLozier

Colleen Dougherty

Becky Garrett

Makenzie Kahan

Kristen Kelley

Krista Lopez

Megan Marchesano

Taylor Mathews

Madison Mercado

Melinda Mercado

Carson Michalowski

Annika Niemeier

Allie Stephenson

Kyndall Treadwell

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