Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
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Kansas
Cowgirls Drop Big 12 Opener
September 21, 2012 | Cowgirl Soccer
Sept. 21, 2012
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Defending Big 12 champion Oklahoma State lost its conference opener Friday as the No. 7 Cowgirls suffered a 2-1 loss to Kansas at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
The loss snapped OSU's five-game winning streak against the Jayhawks and marked KU's first win over the Cowgirls since 2005. OSU is now 9-2-0 on the season, while Kansas improved to 7-2-1.
“It's a tough way to start out the conference, but we did some positive things and we'll correct our mistakes and get ready for the next one,” said OSU head coach Colin Carmichael.
Kansas took a quick lead just 3:03 into the match. On a counter attack, Haley Yearout sent a great pass ahead to a streaking Courtney Dickerson, who beat her defender and sent a 10-yard shot past AD Franch to the far post to give the Jayhawks the early advantage.
OSU had numerous near misses for the equalizer before intermission, with a long shot by Madison Mercado caroming off the crossbar in the seventh minute and a chance by George Christie hitting the far post just over five minutes later.
The Cowgirls continued to control the offensive attack and create solid chances in the opening half. But a shot by Megan Marchesano at the 24:13 mark was saved by a diving Kaitlyn Stroud, and Allie Stephenson had a shot sail wide as OSU headed to intermission with an 8-7 advantage on shots but trailing by a goal on the scoreboard.
“The first half was one-way traffic in our favor – everything was in their half of the field and going towards their goal,” Carmichael said. “We were a little bit unfortunate – hit the post, hit the bar – and that could have changed the game.”
OSU continued to blitz the Jayhawks in the second half, with Stephenson creating another chance in the 54th minute before another diving save by Stroud kept the Cowgirls off the scoreboard.
KU nearly recorded its second goal of the match in the 66th minute, but Franch made a diving save of her own on a header by Caroline Kastor that kept the Jayhawks from adding to their lead.
The Cowgirls finally got the equalizer at the 68:35 mark when Megan Marchesano took a pass from Stephenson and drilled a shot to the far post to tie the score at 1-1. The goal was Marchesano's seventh of the season, tying her with Kastor for the conference lead, while Stephenson notched her team-leading fifth assist.
However, the lead was short lived, as just 28 seconds later, KU was awarded a penalty kick after a Cowgirl foul in the box. Whitney Berry stepped up and sent the PK just past a diving Franch to put the Jayhawks back on top, 2-1.
“It (penalty kick) was very deflating; we thought that after we scored the goal, the momentum had turned a little bit,” Carmichael said.
OSU owned a huge advantage on corner kicks in the contest, taking 11 to KU's one, and the Cowgirls almost recorded the equalizer off of one of those in the 73rd minute. But a header by Kendra Boydstun was stopped by Stroud, and the Jayhawks held their one-goal lead.
The Cowgirls' final opportunity also game off a corner kick, this one coming in the game's final 10 seconds, but the frantic scramble in the box yielding nothing.
OSU returns to action Sunday with its first-ever matchup against West Virginia in Morgantown, W.Va. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. (CST).
“It's obviously not ideal to start out with a loss, but we've got to be mentally tough enough to come back,” Marchesano said. “We've got another tough game on Sunday against a really good team. We've got to be able to put this behind us and start focusing again towards the next one.”
