Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowgirls Head To KC For Conference Tourney
November 04, 2014 | Cowgirl Soccer
OSU Game Notes - Big 12 Championship 
Oklahoma State (10-8-1)
at the
Big 12 Soccer Championship
Nov. 5, 7 & 9 • Kansas City, Mo.
Swope Soccer Village
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State enters this week's 2014 Big 12 Soccer Championship as the tourney's No. 2 seed and will open play Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. against seventh-seeded Baylor. The Cowgirls are 10-8-1 overall and finished second in the conference standings on the strength of a 5-2-1 mark in Big 12 play. The five conference wins for the Cowgirls were the most by an OSU team since the 2011 squad won six en route to a Big 12 championship.
Now in its 19th season, OSU compiled a 219-122-41 (.627) record in its first 18 seasons of women's soccer. Head coach Colin Carmichael is in his 10th season at the helm and owns a 146-50-29 record. The Cowgirls have earned a berth in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship in seven of the last nine years and have claimed Big 12 titles in four of the last six seasons.
Cowgirls At The Big 12 Championship
OSU is 15-6-3 all time at the Big 12 Soccer Championship and will be gunning for its fourth conference tournament title this week. The Cowgirls won the tourney in 2003 (3-2 double overtime triumph vs. Missouri), 2009 (1-0 over Texas A&M) and 2010 (won PK shootout vs. Oklahoma after 1-1 tie). Last season, OSU, which was the tourney's No. 6 seed, lost in the finals to top-seeded West Virginia, 1-0.
OSU's all-time records against the teams in Kansas City are: West Virginia (0-4-0), Kansas (9-9-3), Texas Tech (13-6-3), Oklahoma (20-4-3), Texas (9-10-5), TCU (4-1-2) and Baylor (10-7-3).
If OSU wins its opening-round match, the Cowgirls will advance to Friday's semifinals to face the winner of No. 3 seed Kansas and No. 6 seed Oklahoma at 8 p.m. The title match is Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
On The Air & The Web
Fans wishing to follow the Big 12 Soccer Championship can do so in a variety of ways. Live stats and free webcasts of each non-finals match can be accessed at www.Big12Sports.com. Sunday's championship match will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1.
Additionally, Stillwater Radio will carry every OSU game live on KGFY 105.5 FM with Bill Van Ness on the call.
Familiar Faces
In 2014, OSU returns 10 of its 11 starters from last season as well as 18 of its 22 letterwinners. Leading the way are four players who have earned All-Big 12 honors in their careers -- sophomores Natalie Calhoun and Courtney Dike and juniors Madison Mercado and Allie Stephenson.
The Cowgirls will be without one of those returning starters in 2014, however, as goalie Michela Ongaro will miss the season due to a knee injury. But senior Rosa Medina, who started the first eight games last season and had 14 career starts in the net in her first three seasons, has stepped in to fill that void.
Quick 2013 Recap
OSU finished the 2013 campaign with a 9-7-6 record, which included a sixth-place showing in the Big 12 Conference standings with a 2-3-3 mark.
Following a run to the Big 12 Championship finals, where they lost to top-seeded West Virginia, 1-0, the Cowgirls were awarded a berth in the NCAA Soccer Championship, their seventh NCAA tourney berth in the last nine seasons. In the NCAA opening round, OSU suffered a 2-1 loss to Arkansas on its home field to end the season.
Preseason Prognostications
In preseason voting by the league's head coaches, OSU was picked to finish third in the Big 12 standings behind two-time defending league champion West Virginia and Texas Tech. Three Cowgirls -- Allie Stephenson, Natalie Calhoun and Courtney Dike -- were named to the preseason All-Big 12 team.
Winning Is A Habit
The OSU program has reached unprecedented heights over the last decade.
• From 2006-11, the Cowgirls earned six-straight NCAA tourney bids and advanced to at least the second round each time, including back-to-back Elite Eight appearances in 2010 and 2011.
• From 2008-11, OSU celebrated four consecutive Big 12 championships. The Cowgirls have totaled five league titles in the last 11 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.
Century Mark
With OSU's win over Creighton in 2011, Colin Carmichael notched his 100th career victory. In his 10th season at the helm, Carmichael sports a career mark of 146-50-29 (.713).
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 completed the regular season 9-2-0 on their home field in 2014. OSU is 46-6-7 (.839) at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex since 2010, and the Cowgirls sport a 64-8-7 record (.854) on their home field since 2008. They are 122-32-14 (.768) all time on their current home turf.
Young Guns
OSU's 30-player roster includes just nine upperclassmen and only four of those are seniors (Burmaster, Christie, Medina and Rhinehart), while 21 players are either freshmen (8), redshirt freshmen (6) or sophomores (7).
Last season, OSU's regular starting lineup consisted of five freshmen and two sophomores, and freshmen accounted for 18 of the Cowgirls' 29 goals and 10 of its 22 assists in 2013.
OSU is more experienced in 2014, but several newcomers are being counted on to make significant impacts, among them redshirt freshman Niki McKnight and true frosh Anna Beffer, Allie Rivers, Beryl Smith and Laurene Tresfield.
From 0-for to Second Place
OSU opened the season with six-straight losses and was outscored 15-3 in those matches. However, on Sept. 12, the Cowgirls defeated Cal Poly for their first victory and what was the first of six consecutive wins. The hot play and turnaround has continued as in its last 13 games, OSU is 10-2-1 and has outscored its opposition by a 19-9 margin.
Shining Stars
Four Cowgirls earned all-conference honors from the Big 12 in 2014, and each of those is now a multiple all-league performer. Junior midfielder Allie Stephenson was named to the All-Big 12 First Team after earning second-team plaudits a year ago. A pair of sophomores, defender Natalie Calhoun and forward Courtney Dike, earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors for the second consecutive year, while junior forward Madison Mercado was also a second-team selection after being a second teamer as a freshman in 2012.
100 Percent
OSU scored 29 goals and recorded 22 assists in 2013, and every player who recorded those statistics returns in 2014.
She Shoots, She Scores
Courtney Dike quickly established herself as a prolific scorer at the collegiate level as a freshman last season, and she is the leading returning scorer in the Big 12 in 2014.
The forward from Edmond, Okla., ranked second in the Big 12 in 2013 with 13 goals and 30 points and earned All-Big 12 Second Team and All-Newcomer Team honors. Her 13 goals tied for the fourth most in a single season in OSU history, three shy of Yolanda Odenyo's record 16, while her 30 points was the eighth highest single-season total all time.
Dike recorded three two-goal performances -- vs. Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Missouri State -- which was the most multi-goal games by a Cowgirl since 2010, and of her 58 shots, 30 of those (52 percent) were on goal. She was named the Big 12 Offensive Player and Newcomer of the Week on two occasions in 2013.
In 2014, Dike has three goals and is tied for the team lead with three assists.
International Stage
Courtney Dike took her talents to Canada in August as a member of the Nigeria U-20 Women's National Team at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.
The trip proved highly successful, though it meant OSU was without its top scorer for the first two games of 2014. Dike helped the Falconets into the U-20 World Cup final, where they dropped a 1-0 decision to Germany. A starter at forward throughout most of the tourney, Dike recorded a pair of goals in six games. In pool play against South Korea, she scored the fastest goal in FIFA Women's World Cup history as she found the back of the net just 18 seconds into the match, and she scored a goal 64 seconds into the semifinal match against North Korea to help Nigeria advance to the final.
Dike's parents, Vincent and Jacinta, are natives of Nigeria, and her older brother, Bright, is on the country's men's national team.
Scoring Sparks
Allie Stephenson has keyed OSU's offensive attack in 2014 as the junior midfielder has played a role in nine of the Cowgirls' 22 scores (41 percent). Stephenson has recorded six goals -- two via penalty kick -- and three assists and ranks in the top 10 in the Big 12 in goals, points (15) and shots (52).
Junior Madison Mercado has notched four goals and an assist, while freshman Anna Beffer has three goals and two assists. Stephenson, Mercado, Dike and Delaney Kiely were OSU's leading scorers in Big 12 play with two goals each.
Stephenson and Mercado have combined for 27 goals (14 for Stephenson, 13 for Mercado) and 21 assists (11 for Stephenson, 10 for Mercado) in their careers.
Keeping 'Em Outta The Net
OSU has established itself as one of the top defensive programs in the country. From 2006-11, the Cowgirls led the Big 12 in shutouts five times (2006, '07, '09, '10, '11) and recorded 74 shutouts in 146 games during that span.
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.
Over its last 13 games, during which OSU has gone 10-2-1, the Cowgirls have recorded six shutouts.
Stout Competition
OSU's 2014 schedule ranks second on the NCAA's list of the nation's toughest, and the Cowgirl's current NCAA RPI stands at No. 28. Of OSU's 18 opponents this season, nine have been or are nationally ranked.
Walking Wounded
OSU has been hit hard by the injury bug in 2014, with 13 different players missing time due to injuries. Eight starters have missed action due to injury, while four other potential starters have been lost. The list of injured Cowgirls includes:
Michela Ongaro, Soph., GK - out for season with knee injury suffered during summer
Anna Beffer, Fr., F - started first two games but missed next six with sprained ankle - returned vs. Memphis
Madison Mercado, Jr., F - All-Big 12 performer started first three games but went down with knee injury vs. Florida State and missed next three games - returned vs. Cal Poly
Krissi Killion, Soph., F - played in first two games but leg/knee injuries kept her out of next four - returned vs. Cal Poly; missed Iowa State and Dayton matches with leg injury - returned vs. Kansas
Beryl Smith, Fr., MF - dislocated elbow vs. Florida and missed next two games - returned vs. Cal Poly
Miriam Rhinehart, Sr., MF/D - was ill and did not play vs. Arizona State
Laurene Tresfield, Fr., MF - started first five games, suffered leg injury four minutes into Arizona State match, missed the rest of that contest and came off bench vs. Arizona; missed Memphis match with illness
Haley Maurice, Soph., MF - missed first two games of season with ankle injury
Tori Ruszkowski, R-Fr., MF - earned first-career start vs. Arizona, suffered knee injury in second half and missed next eight games - returned vs. TCU
Natalie Calhoun, Soph., D - missed final 28 minutes vs. Cal Poly after suffering a head injury - returned vs. UT Martin
Kelsey Bass, Jr., D - missed final 36 minutes vs. Kansas with ankle injury, sat out Texas Tech game - returned vs. TCU
Niki McKnight, R-Fr., D - injured knee vs. Kansas and missed Texas Tech and TCU games - returned vs. Baylor
Allie Rivers, Fr., F - missed West Virginia and Texas games with injury
Additionally, Allie Stephenson, a junior All-Big 12 midfielder who started her first 46 games in a Cowgirl uniform, missed the Arizona State game to attend the funeral of a family member.
