Friday, September 2

Stillwater, OK

7:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

Central Florida

Christina Jean-Charles

Cowgirls Set To Host Foes From Florida

August 31, 2016 | Cowgirl Soccer

Oklahoma State (2-1-1)

vs. UCF (1-3-0)

Fri., Sept. 2 • 7 p.m. • Stillwater, Okla.

Cowgirl Soccer Complex (1,450)

vs. #5 Florida (3-1-0)

Sun., Sept. 4 • Noon • Stillwater, Okla.

Cowgirl Soccer Complex (1,450)

GAME NOTES

Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State continues its five-game homestand this weekend with matches against a pair of Sunshine State foes at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex. OSU brings a 2-1-1 record into a Friday night showdown against UCF before hosting fifth-ranked Florida Sunday at noon.

OSU is coming off a 2015 season in which they compiled a 9-9-2 record and finished eighth in the Big 12 Conference standings with a 2-4-2 mark. The Cowgirls return seven starters and 18 letterwinners from last season, including a pair of three-time All-Big 12 performers in forward Courtney Dike and defender Natalie Calhoun.

The 2016 season marks the 21st in the history of the OSU women's soccer program. Over their first 20 seasons, the Cowgirls compiled a 238-141-44 (.615) record, and head coach Colin Carmichael entered his 12th season at the helm with a 155-61-31 mark. The Cowgirls have earned a berth in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship in eight of the last 10 years and have claimed Big 12 titles in four of the last eight seasons.

About The Opponents

UCF enters Friday's match with a 1-3-0 mark, with all three of its losses coming to ranked teams as the Knights have dropped games to No. 3 Duke, No. 9 North Carolina and No. 24 South Carolina. Senior forwards Cortney O'Connell and Carol Rodrigues have each recorded two goals on the season to lead the UCF attack.

OSU's only previous meeting with UCF came last season in Orlando with the Knights scoring twice in the second half to secure a 2-1 victory.

Florida is ranked No. 5 in a pair of national polls, and the Gators enter this week with a 3-1-0 record prior to a Friday night game at top-ranked Florida State. UF is coming off a weekend that saw it drop an overtime contest at No. 3 Stanford before picking up an overtime win at 15th-ranked UCLA. The Gators are led by All-American forward Savannah Jordan, who already has four goals and four assists on the season for a team that has 12 goals on the year.

OSU has faced Florida each of the last three seasons, losing each contest. Last year in Gainesville, the Cowgirls took the fifth-ranked Gators to overtime before falling, 3-2.

On The Air & The Web

Fans wishing to follow this weekend's matches can do so in a variety of ways. Both matches are available via a free webcast at okstate.com/live. Live stats will be also available via links at www.okstate.com (links can be accessed via the Schedule tab on the Cowgirl soccer page). Additionally, fans can follow the official OSU Soccer Twitter account, @CowgirlFC, for in-game updates.

Winning Is A Habit

The 2016 season marks the 21st in the OSU program's history and over those two-plus decades, the program has been built into an established winner.

• OSU has earned a berth in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship eight of the last 10 years (beginning in 2006).

• 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 — two regular season (2008, '11) and two tournament ('09, '10).

• 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.

Back In the Saddle

OSU returns seven players who started at least 10 games during the 2015 season. Of the 16 returning letterwinners, 14 are field players, and that group combined for 24 of the Cowgirls' 36 goals a year ago, as well as 18 of its 23 assists.

Preseason Prognostications

In preseason voting by the league's head coaches, OSU was picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 Conference standings behind four-time defending league champion West Virginia, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Baylor. A pair of Cowgirls — forward Courtney Dike and defender Natalie Calhoun — were named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team.

Home Sweet Home

The Cowgirls are 1-0-0 on their home field in 2016. OSU is 71-11-9 (.830) at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex since 2008 and is 129-35-16 (.761) all time on its current home turf.

Dynamic duo

Natalie Calhoun and Courtney Dike are already in rare company and could join an elite list in 2016. Both Cowgirls have earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors three times, making them two of only seven OSU players to be named all-conference three times in a career. Only two Cowgirls — Yolanda Odenyo and AD Franch — have achieved All-Big 12 status four times.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Prior to the season, TopDrawerSoccer.com released its list of the Top 100 players in women's college soccer, a list that ranks sophomores, juniors and seniors. A pair of Cowgirls made the list as Courtney Dike was ranked No. 73 while Natalie Calhoun checked in at No. 82.

Milestone For Carmichael

Oklahoma State head coach Colin Carmichael recorded career win No. 150 on Sept. 18, 2015, against Arizona State. Now in his 12th season as the Cowgirls' head coach, Carmichael has been on the OSU coaching staff since the program's inception in 1996.

New Faces

Twelve newcomers joined the OSU roster in 2016, and the group includes 10 freshmen, a sophomore transfer and a junior college transfer.

Eight different newcomers — six freshmen, two transfers — have started at least one game, while all told, 10 newcomers have made their OSU debuts in 2016.

She Shoots, She Scores

Courtney Dike quickly established herself as a prolific scorer at the collegiate level as a freshman in 2013, and she has continued that scoring production throughout her career for the Cowgirls.

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 marked 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 recorded three goals, two of them game winners, and three assists in 19 games. As a juninor, she ranked in the top six in the Big 12 in goals (5), assists (7) and points (17), and her three goals and seven assists this season are tied for second in the conference.

Quick Kicks

OSU had a different starting lineup in each of its first four games ... six different Cowgirls have scored goals this season, while six different players have also notched assists ... of OSU's 73 shots this season, 36 have been on goal (.493) ... Michela Ongaro and Dani Greenlee have combined for 18 saves on the season, and OSU is tied for the Big 12 lead with 19 saves (one team).

Climbing The Charts

Courtney Dike has three goals in 2016 and is now tied for eighth on OSU's career goals list with 24. She needs four goals to move into the top five, while the all-time record is 35 and held by a pair of Cowgirls — Yolanda Odenyo and Jolene Schweitzer.

Dike also ranks 10th on OSU's all-time charts with 15 career assists and 63 points, and with two more shots, she'll enter the Cowgirls' top 10 all time in that category as well.

Junior goalie Michela Ongaro is also among OSU's all-time statistical leaders in the net. The Wisconsin native and former walk-on is fourth on the Cowgirls' career charts with a 1.02 goals against average, and she is sixth in both career shutouts (9) and saves (132).

The Biggest Stage

Courtney Dike is one of a select few collegiate players who can boast of having played in a Women's World Cup.

Dike earned a pair of caps for Nigeria at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada. Her first came as a reserve in a match against Australia, and in the Super Falcons' final tourney game, Dike was in the starting lineup against the eventual champion United States. She played 50 minutes against the U.S. before subbing out early in the second half.

Dike concluded her first trip to the Women's World Cup playing 56 minutes and recording one shot. Nigeria finished 0-2-1 at the tourney and failed to advance out of Group D.

The experience was historic as Dike became the first OSU player to participate in a World Cup and also the first-ever Oklahoman to compete in a Women's World Cup.

In 2014, Dike was a member of the Nigeria U-20 Women's National Team at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. That trip proved highly successful, though it meant OSU was without its top scorer for the first two games of 2014.

During that tourney, 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.

Her Defense Never Rests

Natalie Calhoun has been an anchor at defender since arriving on campus in 2013. The center back has played in all 66 of OSU's games during her career and been a starter in 65 of those, and she has ranked either first or second in minutes played among field players each of her first three seasons. The lone game she in which she was not in the starting lineup was the season opener her freshman season.

A three-time All-Big 12 Second Team performer, Calhoun has played a part in 20 shutouts during her career.

Big 12's Best

After recording a pair of goals on opening weekend, Courtney Dike was named the first Big 12 Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the 2016 season.

In Friday's season opener against Georgia, Dike's goal in the 62nd minute gave OSU its first lead of the contest, and on Sunday against Mercer, she scored just 72 seconds into the match to help the Cowgirls record their first win of the season. Dike finished the weekend with six shots, three of those on goal, in 158 minutes of action.

This marks the fifth time in Dike's career she has been recognized with a Big 12 weekly award.

Big 12's Best, PT. II

Julia Lenhardt made it back-to-back weeks for OSU to earn a Big 12 weekly award when she was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Week for week two.

Lenhardt recorded OSU's first two goals to lead the Cowgirls to a 4-1 win over Oral Roberts. In notching the first two scores of her collegiate career, the midfielder also became the first OSU freshman to score multiple goals in a game since Courtney Dike in 2013.