Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Missouri State
Cowgirls Set To Host Missouri State In NCAA Soccer Championship Opening Round
November 09, 2017 | Cowgirl Soccer
Game Notes
ÂOklahoma State (16-3-2)
vs. Missouri State (10-9-1)
NCAA Women's Soccer Championship 1st Round
Sat., Nov. 11 • Noon • Stillwater, Okla.
Cowgirl Soccer Complex (1,000)
Oklahoma StateÂ
   Oklahoma State, the 2017 Big 12 Conference regular season champion, opens play in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship with a first-round match against Missouri State Saturday at noon at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex. OSU enters the tourney with a 16-3-2 record; the 16 wins are the fifth most in a season in program history and the highest total since the 2011 squad finished with a school-record 22. OSU finished atop the Big 12 standings with an 8-1-0 mark; the eight conference wins tied the 2006 and 2010 teams for the most in program history.Â
   OSU is coming off a 2016 season in which it compiled a 9-9-3 record and finished fifth in the Big 12 standings with a 3-4-1 mark. OSU returned eight starters and 18 letterwinners from that team, including five of their top six scorers.
   The 2017 season marks the 22nd in the history of the Cowgirl Soccer program; over the first 21 years, OSU compiled a 238-141-44 (.615) record. Head coach Colin Carmichael entered his 13th season at the helm with a 164-70-34 mark.Â
Cowgirls At The NCAA Soccer Championship
   OSU is making a second-straight appearance in the NCAA Championship and the 11th in program history. The Cowgirls have earned a tourney bid four times in the last five years and 10 times in the last 12 years. The Cowgirls' first NCAA berth came in 2003; they made six-straight trips from 2006-11 and back-to-back appearances in 2013-14.Â
   OSU is 9-7-4 all time at the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship, with the .550 winning percentage ranking 19th all time among teams that have made at least 10 tourney appearances. The Cowgirls have advanced to at least the second round six times, including back-to-back Elite Eight appearances in 2010 and 2011. OSU is looking for its first NCAA tourney win since 2011 — the Cowgirls lost in the opening round in 2013, 2014 and 2016.
About The Opponent
   Missouri State earned an NCAA Tournament bid by winning last week's Missouri Valley Conference Championship title. The Bears are 10-9-1 on the season and unbeaten in their last six matches (5-0-1), posting five shutouts and allowing just one goal during that span. Junior forward Brooke Prondzinkski leads MSU with six goals.Â
On The Air & The WebÂ
   Fans wishing to follow Saturday's match can do so in a variety of ways. A free live video stream is available at okstate.com/live, and the game will also air on Stillwater Radio KGFY 105.5 FM with Bill Van Ness on the call. Live stats will be available via a link at www.ncaa.com/sports/soccer-women/d1 (links for all NCAA matches can be accessed via the Bracket tab). Additionally, fans can follow the official OSU Soccer Twitter account, @CowgirlFC, for in-game updates. Â
Winning Is A Habit
   Now in its 22nd season, Oklahoma State soccer has built itself into an established winner.
   • OSU has earned a berth in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship 10 of the last 12 years (beginning in 2006) and four of the last five.
   • 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.Â
   • From 2008-11, OSU celebrated four consecutive Big 12 championships — two regular season (2008, '11) and two tournament ('09, '10).
Big 12's Best
   Oklahoma State was picked to finish sixth in the 2017 Big 12 Conference standings in a preseason vote of the league's head coaches, but the Cowgirls proved those predictions wrong by winning the sixth Big 12 championship in program history and first since 2011.
   In tying the program record with eight conference wins, OSU finished Big 12 play 8-1-0 to claim the third regular season title in its history and end West Virginia's five-year reign atop the league. The Cowgirls previously won regular season Big 12 titles in 2008 and 2011; they won conference tournament championships in 2003, 2009 and 2010.
Award Tour
   Oklahoma State was well represented on the 2017 All-Big 12 Conference Awards. Junior forward Haley Woodard was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and an All-Big 12 First Team performer, while Colin Carmichael collected Big 12 Coach of the Year honors for the fifth time. Joining Woodard on the All-Big 12 First Team was midfielder Anna Beffer, while Laurene Tresfield was named an All-Big 12 Second Team defender. Kim Rodriguez and Camy Huddleston were selected for the Big 12 All-Freshman Team.
Home Sweet Home
   The Cowgirls are 9-0-0 on their home field in 2017. OSU is 84-16-9 (.812) at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex since 2008 and is 142-40-16 (.758) all time on its current home turf.Â
It's Good To Be Back
   After starting the season with a 4-0-0 record, OSU entered the national rankings for the first time in five years on Aug. 29 when the Cowgirls checked in at No. 19 in the United Soccer Coaches poll. The last time OSU had appeared in the rankings was Oct. 1, 2012, when it was No. 22 in the NSCAA poll.
   This week marks the 11th straight that OSU has been nationally ranked; the Cowgirls are No. 17 in the United Soccer Coaches poll and are ranked 18th by TopDrawerSoccer.com and 14th by Soccer America.
Scoring & Sharing The Love
   • OSU's 44 goals in 2017 have been recorded by 13 different players, and six of those Cowgirls scorers have notched the first goals of their careers. Twelve players have multiple goals on the year.
   • The Cowgirls lead the Big 12 and rank among the NCAA leaders in goals, points (123) and scoring offense (2.10 gpg).
   • OSU has taken 130 corner kicks on the season and has scored seven goals directly off corner kicks.
Leading The Attack
   In forward Haley Woodard, the Cowgirls have one of the Big 12's top attacking players. The junior tied for the league lead with four goals and nine points in conference play; her eight goals are tied for the league lead with her 19 points ranking second.
   Woodard has played in only 16 games this season due to injury and is averaging a Big 12-best 0.50 goals per game. She has racked up 17 goals in 50 games in her three seasons in a Cowgirl uniform.
Sharing The Wealth
   Anna Beffer enters the NCAA Tournament tied for the NCAA lead with 12 assists, which marks her career high. The senior has recorded assists in nine matches, including two-assist efforts vs. UMKC, UTSA and OU. The 12 assists ranks as the fourth most in a single season in OSU history, and she now has 21 in her career to also rank fifth on the program's all-time list.
Trying Something New
   Charmé Morgan played nearly 1,100 minutes in 20 games as a freshman in 2016 and recorded just three shots and no goals. Fast forward to 2017, where she is among the Cowgirls' top scorers.
   Playing wingback in OSU's new 3-4-3 system, Morgan has recorded four goals, two of those game winners, and she was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week on Aug. 29 after scoring goals vs. OU and Creighton.
Setting 'Em Up
   Jaci Jones finished her freshman season with four assists. Four games into her sophomore campaign, she had already matched that total as she scored a point in each of OSU's first four contests, recording four assists over the Cowgirls' first three games before netting her first goal of 2017 vs. Creighton. She now has five assists, which is tied for fourth in the Big 12, and three goals, two of those game winners.
Climbing The Charts
   Michela Ongaro is among OSU's all-time statistical leaders in the net. The former walk-on is third on the Cowgirls' career charts with 18 shutouts and ranks fourth with 278 saves and a 1.10 goals against average. Ongaro led the Big 12 with 88 saves in 2016; her career-high total ranked as the eighth most in a single season in program history.
   In Big 12-only games this season, Ongaro led the league with a .900 save percentage.
Rare Feat, Quick Work
   Freshman Taylor Olson became the 11th different player in OSU history to record a hat trick when she collected three goals at UTSA on Sept. 3. She is the first Cowgirl to score three goals in a game since Krista Lopez set a school record with four against Arkansas-Little Rock in 2011; the feat has been accomplished 16 times in program history.
  Olson achieved her hat trick in a span of just 6:43 as she scored at the 74:51, 77:58 and 81:34 marks.
Big Boots To Fill
   The Cowgirls lost eight letterwinners from their 2016 squad, including All-Big 12 performers Courtney Dike and Natalie Calhoun. In that duo, OSU must replace two of only four players in program history to earn All-Big 12 honors four times.
   Dike is one of the most prolific scorers to ever play for the Cowgirls. She ranks third on OSU's career points list with 83, fourth on the career goals list with 31 and fifth with 21 assists. She capped her career by being named the 2016 Big 12 Co-Offensive Player of the Year as a senior.
   In Calhoun, the Cowgirls lost one of the league's top defenders and a player who anchored a unit that recorded 26 shutouts over the last four years. The center back played in all 83 of OSU's games during her career and was a starter in 82 of those, and she ranked either first or second in minutes played among field players each of her four seasons.
New Home For Cowgirl Soccer
   In the spring of 2017, construction began on a new stadium for Cowgirl Soccer. With completion planned for the fall of 2018, OSU's new home is a $20 million project and is located on the current site of the Cowgirl Soccer Complex.
   The new facility will be a showcase for college soccer with club seats, plaza and upper bowl gathering areas and a north end zone terrace area and seating designed specifically for OSU students. Team facilities include locker rooms, meeting areas, kitchen facilities, sports medicine areas and equipment rooms. The stadium will be able to accommodate more than 3,500 fans in permanent seats.
   The west side of the stadium will include 552 bleacher seats, 659 chairback seats and 432 stadium seats in the lower bowl. The upper bowl will feature another 378 chairback seats and 164 stadium seats.
   Atop the west side of the stadium will be two club levels with a capacity of 80 and two suites with a capacity of 20 guests each. A new press box will sit atop the stadium.
   The west side will be anchored by a club area at field level that can host more than 100 and serve as a player lounge and nutrition area on non-game days.
   The north end zone includes bleacher seating for more than 400 and will include a patio, a building and a concourse area that can host more than 125 for gatherings.
   The current bleachers on the east side of the stadium, which include seating for 900 fans, will remain in the new facility.
Remembering Neal
   The major benefactor of the new and under construction Cowgirl Soccer stadium is Oklahoma State alumnus Neal Patterson, who passed away in July at the age of 67. Throughout the 2017 season, the Cowgirls' uniforms will include a patch of Patterson's initials — NP — sewn onto the sleeve to honor his memory.
   An Oklahoma native who grew up on his family's farm near Manchester, Patterson earned a bachelor's degree in finance and an MBA from OSU in the early 1970s. In 1979, he co-founded the Cerner Corporation and served as the company's CEO at the time of his death. Cerner is the world's largest publicly traded health information technology company with $4.8 billion in revenues in 2016 and approximately 24,000 associates worldwide. FORTUNE recently named Cerner one of the world's most admired companies.
   Patterson was also one of five principal owners of the Sporting Kansas City Major League Soccer franchise. The group adopted the Sporting Kansas City brand in 2010 and was instrumental in opening Children's Mercy Park, a soccer-specific stadium that helped turn around the Kansas City franchise. The venue has seen 97 consecutive MLS sellouts.
