Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Oral Roberts
Cowgirls Win Exhibition Match, 2-1
August 17, 2013 | Cowgirl Soccer
Aug 17, 2013
TULSA, Okla. - Allie Stephenson scored a pair of goals to lift Oklahoma State to a 2-1 win over Oral Roberts in a preseason exhibition match Saturday at the Case Soccer Complex.
Both Stephenson goals came within a four minute span after the Cowgirls had fallen behind early in the second half.
"Like any exhibition game, there were four or five good things, four or five things to work on, and that's normal," said OSU head coach Colin Carmichael. "We came out healthy, and that's point one. And then we were able to get a lot of our freshmen minutes. It's a bit nerve-wracking sometimes when you're new to all this and going out in front of a big crowd. That's out of the way now so hopefully they'll be a little more comfortable next week."
All three goals in the contest came after intermission, with ORU taking the first lead of the match at the 48:16 mark when Jordan Parsons took a pass from Kayla Keller and delivered a low shot from eight-yards to beat goalie Rosa Medina and put the Golden Eagles up, 1-0.
The ORU lead did not last long, however. Just 3:20 later, Stephenson netted the equalizer when she blasted a shot from 20-yards out to the near post past a diving Helen Erb. Madison Mercado recorded an assist on the play as the Cowgirls tied the score at 1-1.
Nearly as quickly as she tied it up, Stephenson gave OSU the lead when, in the 56th minute, she corralled a loose ball following a corner kick and delivered the ball top shelf to put the Cowgirls up, 2-1.
"(Stephenson) looked great - she's been doing that all preseason," Carmichael said. "We challenged her last spring to add a final product to her game. Last fall as a freshman, she had flashes of brilliance, but there wasn't enough end product. In the spring, she worked hard, and in preseason she's been doing that every practice so it wasn't a surprise for us."
OSU finished the contest with a 19-7 advantage in shots and recorded seven corner kicks to ORU's two.
Neither team could find the back of the net in the opening half, with OSU owning a 6-3 advantage in shots. Krissi Killion and Kristen Kelley collected two shots apiece before intermission, while Stephenson had the lone shot on goal.
Medina kept the Golden Eagles off the scoreboard in the first 45 minutes, making a pair of saves on shots by Jennifer Abernathy. The first of those came on a free kick from 25-yards out, which a leaping Medina got a hand on and deflected off the crossbar.
"In the first half, ORU was more aggressive and played with more passion, and that showed," Carmichael said. "But in the second half, after the first five minutes when they scored, we played our best soccer for the next 15-20 minutes. That was encouraging, going down a goal and fighting back the way we did."
OSU opens the regular season Friday at Tennessee-Martin.
