Cowgirls Denied At Big 12 Championship

Wednesday, November 4

Kansas City, Mo.

11:30 a.m.

Oklahoma State University

9-9-2, 2-4-2

West Virginia

16-1-1, 6-0-1

Oklahoma State

West Virginia

November 04, 2015 | Cowgirl Soccer

Box Score

Video Highlights

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Oklahoma State's 2015 season came to an end Wednesday in Kansas City as No. 2 West Virginia handed the Cowgirls a 2-1 loss in the opening round of the Big 12 Soccer Championship at Swope Soccer Village.

OSU, which was the tourney's No. 8 seed, ends its season with a 9-9-2 record, while top-seeded WVU ran its unbeaten streak to 16 and improved to 16-1-1.

The Cowgirls were awarded a pair of penalty kicks Wednesday but could only convert one of those, and the Mountaineers recorded goals in the 80^th and 82^nd minutes

"I'm disappointed in the result because clearly we wanted to win and extend our season. However, I can't fault our team's effort – we did everything but win," said OSU head coach Colin Carmichael. "We created some good chances, and Michela (Ongaro) made a couple of big plays to keep us in it…

"I cannot complain. Our kids played hard, our kids played well. West Virginia is a great team, there's a reason they're number two in the country, and that's two games we've given them all they've wanted. We've just got to figure out a way to as a group to move forward and start closing those games out getting Ws instead of losses."

In the opening half, neither team could find the back of the net, with Cowgirl goalie Michela Ongaro collecting four saves on WVU's 13 shots. OSU had only four shots prior to intermission, one of those a chance by Courtney Dike that was saved off the line by a Mountaineer defender.

The second half brought more great saves from Ongaro, who finished with six in the match, and OSU kept up with WVU in shot attempts.

The Cowgirls looked poised to take the game's first lead in the 70^th minute. After Madison Mercado was fouled in the box, OSU was awarded a penalty kick. Anna Beffer stepped up for the attempt, but her shot was saved by WVU goalie Hannah Steadman, who dove to her right to get a hand on the ball and deflect it off the post.

WVU would make the Cowgirls pay 10 minutes later when Amandine Pierre-Louis delivered a shot from the top of the 18-yard box to the near upper post to make it 1-0.

Just 1:40 later, it was 2-0 WVU after Amanda Hill recorded her 10^th goal of the season by blasting a long shot into the upper right corner.

OSU kept battling, and it paid off with 6:56 left in the match when Allie Stephenson was fouled in the box. The Cowgirl senior then made good on her penalty kick to trim the deficit to 2-1.

Stephenson's goal was her team-leading sixth of the season, and she finishes her career with 20, which ranks 11^th on OSU's all-time list.