Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Oklahoma
Cowgirls Rout Bedlam-Rival Oklahoma
August 30, 2013 | Cowgirl Soccer
Aug 30, 2013
STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma State scored four unanswered goals and cruised to a 4-1 non-conference win over Bedlam-rival Oklahoma Friday night in front of 1,844 fans at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex.
OSU improved to 2-0-1 with the win and is now 18-3-3 all time against the Sooners. Courtney Dike scored twice, with Allie Stephenson and Madison Mercado also adding goals to lead the Cowgirls to the comeback win.
“It's never a beautiful, technical, skillful game (vs. OU) — there's too much passion going around,” said OSU head coach Colin Carmichael. “It's very physical, with a lot of emotion. We talked about that beforehand, keeping our composure and finding times to play our soccer, and I though we did a good job of that…. This was a good win for us against a tough team.”
OU (1-2-0) seized momentum early, silencing the home crowd when Abby Hodgen scored on a free kick from 25-yards out just over 16 minutes into the match.
Just 60 seconds later, the Cowgirls were poised to tie the score after being awarded a penalty kick, but Allie Stephenson's attempt was saved by a diving Miranda Larkin.
OSU wasn't down long, however.
In the 24th minute, Mercado delivered a cross into the box to Dike, who headed a shot past Larkin for the equalizer, and less than three minutes later, it was Stephenson putting OSU on top when she intercepted a clearance attempt and drilled a shot from the top of the 18-yard box to put the Cowgirls up 2-1.
“(Hodgen's goal) knocked the wind of us a little bit, then we missed a penalty, and you thought that might deter us,” Carmichael said. “But we bounced back quickly. I'm really proud of the girls because it didn't phase them — they just kept going. That's been our thing this year, and it's a really nice quality to have. It shows a lot of character from the players.”
The Cowgirls weren't done with their first-half scoring as, at the 29:48 mark, Dike made a run at Larkin, won the ball and dribbled in for an easy open-net goal.
“It feels great,” said Dike, a freshman who leads the Big 12 Conference with four goals. “Last year, they didn't get the outcome they wanted (OSU lost and tied the Sooners in 2012), and that added to the passion in the game. I just came out trying to play as hard as everyone else was to win the game. There were definitely nerves, but it was a good kind of nervous — if you're not nervous, that's a bad sign.”
The Sooners would outshoot OSU, 14-13, in the contest and owned an 8-4 advantage in shots in the second half, but OSU would net the lone goal in the final 45 minutes. That came in the 61st minute when Mercado was tripped in the box and stepped up and blasted the penalty kick into the back of the net for her second goal of the season.
OSU returns to action Sunday at 7 p.m. when the Cowgirls host Gonzaga.
