Cowgirl Soccer: Looking Back & Ahead

In a pair of home matches last weekend, Oklahoma State dropped a 2-0 contest to Oklahoma on Friday night before rebounding with a 3-0 win over TCU Sunday. OSU is 8-6-3 on the season and in fifth place in the Big 12 Conference standings at 3-3-1. The Cowgirls are idle this week before concluding the regular season next week with a home game against Little Rock and a road test at West Virginia.

Weekend Highlights

With its results last week, OSU is unbeaten in four of its last five matches.
Michela Ongaro recorded eight saves on the weekend and now leads the Big 12 with 67 on the season.
Ongaro recorded her third shutout of the year against TCU, which marked her second shutout in Big 12 play in 2016.
OSU's top three scorers all recorded goals against TCU as Jaci Jones, Haley Woodard and Courtney Dike each found the back of the net.
Courtney Dike recorded her 30^th career goal on a penalty kick vs. TCU and in doing so, the Cowgirl senior became one of just five OSU players to ever record 30 or more goals. She joined Yolanda Odenyo, Jolene Schweitzer, Siera Strawser and Adriane Radtke on the list.
OSU celebrated Senior Day on Sunday, honoring seven Cowgirls in their final season of competition following the match. That group includes Natalie Calhoun, Courtney Dike, Ashton Hierholzer, Katie Howard, Christina Jean-Charles, Niki McKnight and Tori Ruszkowski.

Stat Speak

OSU ranks eighth nationally with 38 goals, just four behind NCAA leader Furman. The Cowgirls are 13^th nationally in points with 107, rank 24^th in assists (31) and are 30^th in scoring offense at 2.24 goals per game.
Fifteen different Cowgirls have scored goals this season, while 12 different players have notched assists.
Along with leading the Big 12 in goals and points, the Cowgirls are also tied with TCU for the league lead in assists.
Of OSU's 245 shots this season, 112 have been on goal (.457).
Seventeen matches into its schedule, OSU has surpassed its goal and assist totals of 36 and 23 from 2015. The Cowgirls played 20 games a year ago.
Michela Ongaro leads the Big 12 with a career-high 67 saves, and OSU tops the league with 70 saves.
OSU has had a different starting lineup in 12 of its 17 games. The lone matches in which the Cowgirls sent out the same starting 11 were Oklahoma and UCF and Texas Tech, Kansas and the second Oklahoma contest. Ten Cowgirl newcomers — eight freshmen as well as a sophomore and junior transfer — have started games in 2016.
Courtney Dike is the Big 12's leading scorer with 24 points. Her nine goals are the most in the conference, and she is second in the league with six assists.
Dike is now tied for fourth on the OSU career goals chart with 30 (five shy of school record). She also ranks fifth all time in assists (20) and points (80). She is sixth on the Cowgirls' all-time list with 197 career shots.
Dike has collected goals in nine of OSU's 17 games this season. She has recorded a goal and/or assist in 12 games.
With three goals and two assists in conference play, Dike has factored in five of OSU's eight goals in Big 12 matches this season.
Ongaro has moved into sole possession of fourth place on OSU's all-time shutouts list with 12, and she is in fifth place on the program's career lists in saves (182) and goals against average (1.13).
Along with Dike, OSU midfielder Anna Beffer ranks in the top 10 in the Big 12 in assists as the junior is tied for third with five.
Haley Woodard is tied for fourth in the Big 12 with five goals.
Freshman midfielder Jaci Jones is tied for fifth in the conference in scoring with 14 points (5 goals, 4 assists).
In this week's official NCAA RPI, OSU came in at No. 60, up 18 spots from last week. Other Big 12 teams: West Virginia (1), Oklahoma (9), Kansas (24), Iowa State (38), Texas Tech (41), Baylor (48), Texas (72) and TCU (77).

Up Next

OSU won't return to action until a rare Tuesday night game on Oct. 25 when it hosts Little Rock in its final home game of 2016. The Cowgirls then conclude the regular season with a trip to Morgantown to take on West Virginia on Oct. 28.
Little Rock is currently 9-6-1 on the season, with home games against Georgia Southern and Troy this weekend.
OSU is 6-0-0 all time against Little Rock (formerly known as UALR), with the Cowgirls outscoring the Trojans 32-1 in the series. The last meeting came in 2011 in Stillwater, with OSU claiming a 7-0 victory.
West Virginia is the nation's top-ranked team and is currently 13-1-1 on the year, including a 5-0-0 mark in the Big 12. The Mountaineers are on the road this weekend for matches at TCU and Texas.
OSU is winless in its six previous meetings with West Virginia; each of the losses has been by a single goal. Last season, the Cowgirls dropped a pair of 2-1 contests to the Mountaineers, including an overtime match in Stillwater.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Anna Beffer

Natalie Calhoun

Courtney Dike

Ashton Hierholzer

Katie Howard

Christina Jean-Charles

Jaci Jones

Niki McKnight

Michela Ongaro

Tori Ruszkowski

Haley Woodard

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