Friday, September 30

Austin, TX

7:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

Texas

Anna Beffer

Texas On Tap For Cowgirls Friday Night In Austin

September 28, 2016 | Cowgirl Soccer

Oklahoma State (5-5-2, 0-2-0)

at Texas (6-4-1, 0-1-1)

Fri., Sept. 30 • 7 p.m. • Austin, Texas

Mike A. Myers Stadium (20,000)

GAME NOTES

Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State continues Big 12 Conference play this week, with just one match on the schedule as the Cowgirls travel to Austin, Texas, to take on Texas at Mike A. Myers Stadium Friday night at 7 p.m. OSU is 5-5-2 on the season and looking for its first league win after dropping its first two Big 12 Conference matches of 2016 on their home field last weekend, losing 1-0 to Iowa State Friday night before a 2-1 overtime setback against Baylor on Sunday.

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 Texas

Texas is 6-4-1 on the season, which includes a 5-2-0 mark on its home field. The Longhorns opened Big 12 play last weekend by tying Baylor in Waco, 1-1, before suffering a 2-1 overtime loss at Oklahoma.

UT sophomore forward Alexa Adams leads the Longhorns' attack with five goals and a pair of assists on the season, while senior midfielder Julia Dyche is among the conference leaders with five assists.

OSU is 9-10-5 all time against Texas. The Cowgirls are unbeaten in their last four matches against UT (2-0-2), and last season in Stillwater, the match ended in a scoreless draw.

On The Air & The Web

Fans wishing to follow Friday's match can do so in a variety of ways. The contest will be televised live on the Longhorn Network, with Glenn Davis and Kate Markgraf calling the action. Live stats, as well as a radio call of the match, are also available online and can be accessed via links at www.okstate.com (links are under 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 3-4-0 on their home field in 2016. OSU is 73-15-9 (.799) at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex since 2008 and is 131-39-16 (.747) 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.

New Faces

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

Ten different newcomers — eight freshmen, two transfers — have made their OSU debuts in 2016 and each has started at least one game.

Putting It In The Net

Statistically speaking, OSU is among the nation's most dynamic offenses this season. The Cowgirls' 31 goals is tied for fourth most nationally and is just four behind the NCAA leader (Clemson), and they are fourth nationally in points (85) and seventh in assists (25).

Fifteen different Cowgirls have scored goals this season, while 12 different players have notched assists. Of OSU's 196 shots, 90 have been on goal (.459).

You'll Get your Chance

OSU has had a different starting lineup in 10 of its 12 games in 2016, and 20 different Cowgirls have started games this season. Only three — Courtney Dike, Julia Lenhardt and Natalie Calhoun — have started all 12 games.

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). She has scored goals in six of OSU's 12 games this season, with her six goals tied for the conference lead, and she ranks atop the league with 17 points.

Climbing The Charts

Courtney Dike has six goals in 2016 and is now tied for sixth on OSU's career goals list with 27. She needs just one goal to move into the top five; the all-time record of 35 is held by Yolanda Odenyo and Jolene Schweitzer.

Dike also ranks in the top 10 on OSU's career charts in assists (6th with 19), points (T-7th with 73) and shots (7th with 190).

Junior goalie Michela Ongaro is also among OSU's all-time statistical leaders in the net. The Wisconsin native and former walk-on is sixth on the Cowgirls' career charts in both shutouts (10) and saves (155) and ranks seventh with a 1.18 goals against average.

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, has been 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 75 of OSU's games during her career and been a starter in 74 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 23 shutouts during her career.

Big 12's Best

Through the first six weeks of the season, Oklahoma State has had a Big 12 Conference weekly award winner three times as Courtney Dike, Julia Lenhardt and Jaci Jones have all been recognized for their standout play.

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

The honor marked the fifth time in Dike's career she has been recognized with a Big 12 weekly award.

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 after she 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 Dike in 2013.

Jones was the league's Big 12 Freshman of the Week on Sept. 12 after she was OSU's leading scorer in helping the Cowgirls to wins over Abilene Christian and UTSA. The midfielder recorded two goals and two assists on the weekend, notching assists in both matches and collecting the first multi-goal game of her career with a pair of goals vs. UTSA.