Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowgirls Open 2013 Season In Tennessee
August 21, 2013 | Cowgirl Soccer
Aug 21, 2013
OSU Game Notes - UT Martin & Vanderbilt
Oklahoma State
at Tennessee-Martin
Friday, Aug. 23 • 7 p.m.
Skyhawk Field (500)
...
at Vanderbilt
Sunday, Aug. 25 • 1 p.m.
Vanderbilt Soccer Complex (2,400)
Oklahoma State
OSU opens the 2013 season with a trip to Tennessee to take on UT Martin and Vanderbilt. The Cowgirls will kick off the season against the Skyhawks Friday at 7 p.m. (CST) before a Sunday showdown against Vandy at 1 p.m. (CST). The road trip marks the first time since 2009 OSU has opened its season on the road.
The Cowgirls are coming off an 11-6-3 season in which they finished seventh in the Big 12 Conference standings with a 1-4-3 mark. Eight starters return from last season, led by senior Kristen Kelley and junior Miriam Rhinehart.
OSU is entering the 18th season in program history, while head coach Colin Carmichael enters his ninth season at the helm. The Cowgirls have earned a berth in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship in six of the last seven years and have claimed Big 12 titles in four of the last five seasons.
The Opponents
The two-time defending Ohio Valley Conference champions, UT Martin is again the league favorite in 2013 and returns eight starters from last season's 13-6-3 squad. The Skyhawks dropped a 1-0 contest at Western Kentucky in their preseason exhibition match last week.
Vanderbilt was 5-10-5 last season and returns 10 starters from that club. The Commodores, who suffered a 4-3 loss to Louisville in their preseason exhibition match, open the season Friday night against UAB. OSU's only previous meeting with Vandy came last season in Stillwater, with the Cowgirls winning, 3-1.
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 will be available at www.okstate.com (link is under Schedule). Live webcasts of both matches are also available -- Friday's game is free at www.ovcdigitalnetwork.com, while the Vanderbilt match can be seen at www.vucommodores.com for a fee.
It Doesn't Count But...
OSU took the field last Saturday night in Tulsa for a preseason exhibition match at Oral Roberts. After a scoreless first half for both teams, the Cowgirls fell behind early in the second before a pair of Allie Stephenson goals lifted them to a 2-1 win. OSU outshot the Golden Eagles, 19-7, while owning a 7-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Winning Is A Habit
By its recent standards, OSU had a down year in 2012, but the program has reached unprecedented heights during the 2000s.
From 2006-2011, the Cowgirls earned six-straight NCAA Tournament bids and advanced to at least the second round each time, including back-to-back Elite Eight appearances in 2010 and 2011. And from 2008-11, the program celebrated four consecutive Big 12 championships, bringing its total to five league titles in the last 10 seasons -- three tournament (2003, '09, '10) and two regular season (2008, '11).
In 2011, OSU set a school record with 22 wins. The Cowgirls finished the '11 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. OSU was 6-0-2 in conference play to claim its second regular-season Big 12 title and in doing so became the first Big 12 team since Texas A&M in 2002 to complete the league schedule without a loss.
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.
Century Mark
With the win over Creighton on Sept. 2, 2011, OSU head coach Colin Carmichael notched his 100th career victory. Entering his ninth season at the helm, Carmichael sports a career mark of 127-35-22 (.750).
Karen Hancock, now a Cowgirl assistant, served as OSU's first-ever head coach and was 110-89-19 in 11 seasons.
Home Sweet Home
The Cowgirls were 8-0-3 on their home field last season. OSU is 33-1-4 (.921) at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex since 2010, and the Cowgirls sport a 51-3-4 record (.914) on their home field since 2008. They are 109-27-11 (.779) all time on their current home field.
Young Guns
OSU's 26-player roster includes just seven upperclassmen, only two of them seniors (Kristen Kelley and Bethany Fields), while 19 players are either freshmen, redshirt freshmen or sophomores.
Last season, OSU's regular starting lineup consisted of five freshmen and two sophomores, and while the team will be more experienced in 2013, several newcomers are expected to make significant impacts. Freshman forwards Krissi Killion and Courtney Dike were starters in OSU's exhibition match, while fellow rookies Natalie Calhoun, Joanna Robertson and Michela Ongaro also saw action.
In 2012, freshmen combined to record 12 of OSU's 34 goals and 10 of its 18 assists.
Star Watch
OSU senior midfielder Kristen Kelley was selected to the 2013 Preseason All-Big 12 Team by the league's head coaches.
Kelley has started 59 career games, recording her nine goals and five assists. She missed the second half of her junior season with an injury but recorded three goals and an assist in 12 games.
Out To Prove Them Wrong
In a vote of the conference's head coaches, OSU was picked to finish fouth in the Big 12 this season. West Virginia is the favorite, followed by Texas Tech and Baylor.
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 seven seasons (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011), recording 74 shutouts in 146 games during that span, and had six shutouts in 20 games a year ago.
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 also led the Big 12 in goals scored in two of the last five seasons (74 in '08 and 52 in '10), and they were second in the league with 56 goals in 2011.
Kelley Makes 'Em Count
Senior 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.
She's Everywhere
Well not necessarily, but she could be. "She" in this case would be Miriam Rhinehart, the Cowgirl junior who has spent most of her career as a defender. However, during the spring exhibition season, Rhinehart saw a great deal of action at forward and proved to be just as valuable up front as she led OSU with four goals in six games.
Big Shoes To Fill
OSU lost six players off last season's squad and among them were some of the best Cowgirls to ever wear the orange and black. The group of Kassie Embrey, AD Franch, Alicia Gray, Keely Kippenberger, Megan Marchesano, Carson Michalowski and Casey Smith finished the season as the sixth-winningest senior class in the NCAA in 2012. The Cowgirls were 68-19-9 (.755) over their four seasons, and no other Big 12 team won more games during that span.
Franch was a three-time All-American at goalie and one of only seven players in Big 12 history to earn first-team all-conference honors four times. She finished her career with a school-record 38 shutouts.
Marchesano finished her career ranked in the top 10 on OSU's all-time list in goals, assists, points and shots, while Michalowski was a three-time All-Big 12 defender who helped the Cowgirls notch 48 shutouts in the 93 games she played.
