Cowgirl Soccer: Rewind & A Look Ahead

Oklahoma State is on to the second round of the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship for the first time in six years after battling Missouri State to a 1-1 tie before advancing by winning a penalty kick shootout in last Saturday's opening-round match in Stillwater. The Cowgirls will next face Duke in second-round action Friday night in Durham, N.C.

Highlights

OSU advanced to the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship for the seventh time in program history and first since 2011. The Cowgirls had lost in the first round in each of their three previous NCAA appearances (in 2013, 2014 and 2016).
OSU is now 9-7-5 all time at the NCAA Soccer Championship.
The penalty kick shootout marked the fifth time in NCAA tourney play that OSU has tied a match and gone into a shootout to decide which team advances. The Cowgirls are 2-3 all time in penalty kick shootouts in NCAA play.
Michela Ongaro saved each of Missouri State's final three penalty kicks to give the Cowgirls a 3-2 win in the shootout.
OSU's scored its lone goal against Missouri State in the ninth minute when Julia Lenhardt found the back of the net off a double assist by Anna Beffer and Jaci Jones.
OSU owns a 16-3-3 record on the year, with the .795 winning percentage ranking as the 17^th best in the NCAA this season. The 16 wins are the fifth most in a season in program history and most by a Cowgirl team since the 2011 squad posted a program-record 22.
OSU's only losses this season are to nationally ranked California and West Virginia on the road and a neutral-site setback against Baylor in the Big 12 Championship semifinals.
OSU won the third Big 12 Conference regular season championship in program history by completing the league schedule with an 8-1-0 record after being picked in the preseason to finish sixth in the standings. The Cowgirls outscored their opponents 16-5 in conference play and recorded four shutouts.
OSU now has six Big 12 championships in its history, with three regular season and three tournament titles.
The Cowgirls are 9-0-1 on their home field in 2017, marking the sixth time in program history they have gone undefeated at home (2003, '06, '08, '11 and '12 previously). OSU has only gone unbeaten and untied on its home field once in program history, that coming in 2008 when the Cowgirls were 10-0-0.

Stat Speak

OSU has outscored its opponents 45-18 on the season, and 13 different Cowgirls have recorded goals. Twelve of those players have multiple goals, led by Haley Woodard's eight.
The Cowgirls' 45 goals ranks 16^th nationally, and OSU is also 23^rd in the NCAA with 127 points.
The Cowgirls lead the Big 12 in goals, assists (37) and points.
OSU entered the NCAA tourney No. 32 in the official NCAA RPI.
This week marks the 12^th straight that OSU has appeared in the national rankings.
Anna Beffer leads the NCAA with her career-high 13 assists. The total ranks tied for third on OSU's single-season list, while her 22 career assists is tied for fifth in program history.
Beffer also has four goals this season and is third in the Big 12 with 21 points.
Haley Woodard is third in the Big 12 with her career-best eight goals, while her 19 points are tied for fifth.
Woodard has eight goals in 17 games this season, with her 0.47 goals per game tied for second in the Big 12.
A junior forward who was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, Woodard posted a conference-best four goals and nine points in Big 12 play this season.
In conference-only games, senior goalie Michela Ongaro led the Big 12 in with a .900 save percentage.
Ongaro has recorded 76 saves on the season, with 45 of those coming in OSU's nine conference games.
Four of Ongaro's five shutouts this season came in Big 12 play (vs. TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech and Texas).
Freshman Taylor Olson is tied for sixth in the Big 12 with six goals, a total that also marks the most goals by an OSU freshman since Courtney Dike's 13 in 2013.
Jaci Jones' career-high six assists this season is tied for fourth in the Big 12.

Up Next

OSU travels to Duke to take on the Blue Devils in a second-round match Friday at 6:30 p.m. (CST) at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C.
Duke is 20-2-0 on the year and opened NCAA play with a 1-0 win over UNC-Greensboro on its home field last Saturday night. One of four No. 1 national seeds in the NCAA Soccer Championship, the Blue Devils' lone losses this season are to rival North Carolina, and they are 12-0-0 on its home field in 2017.
Duke has outscored its opponents 46-10 on the season and has recorded 14 shutouts, eight of those by goalie EJ Proctor.
The Blue Devils are led by forwards Imani Dorsey and Kayla McCoy, both of whom have 11 goals on the year. Dorsey and midfielder Ella Stevens also have seven assists, while McCoy has six.
OSU won its only previous meeting with Duke, that coming in a Sweet 16 game in Stillwater in the 2010 NCAA Women's Soccer Championship. The Cowgirls were 2-0 winners in that match, with Megan Marchesano and Krista Lopez collecting goals and All-American goalie AD Franch recording a shutout.
The winner of the Oklahoma State-Duke match will advance to the Sweet 16 to take on the Texas-Clemson winner Sunday in Durham.
OSU is 11-10-6 all time against Texas, including a 1-0 overtime victory in Austin in this year's regular season finale that gave the Cowgirls a Big 12 regular season championship.
OSU has faced Clemson on the pitch just once, that coming in the second round of the 2006 NCAA Women's Soccer Championship in Clemson, S.C. The two teams battled to a scoreless draw after two overtimes, but the Tigers advanced by winning the penalty kick shootout, 4-2.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Anna Beffer

Jaci Jones

Julia Lenhardt

Taylor Olson

Michela Ongaro

Haley Woodard

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