Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Texas A&M
Showdown Of Ranked Teams Highlights Cowgirls' Trip To Lone Star State
August 30, 2017 | Cowgirl Soccer
GAME NOTES
#19 Oklahoma State (4-0-0)
at #12 Texas A&M (2-0-0)
Fri., Sept. 1 • 8 p.m. • College Station, Texas
Ellis Field (3,500)
at UTSA (1-2-0)
Sun., Sept. 3 • 1 p.m. • San Antonio, Texas
Park West Athletics Complex (1,000)
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Oklahoma StateÂ
   Oklahoma State puts its 4-0-0 record on the line with a pair of road matches this weekend in the Lone Star State. On Friday, the 19th-ranked Cowgirls battle No. 12 Texas A&M in College Station at 8 p.m. before a Sunday showdown at 1 p.m. against UTSA in San Antonio. Nationally ranked for the first time this season, OSU is off to its best start since 2012; the Cowgirls started that season with six-straight wins.
   OSU is coming off a 2016 season in which it compiled a 9-9-3 record and was awarded an NCAA Tournament berth for the third time in the last four seasons. The Cowgirls also finished tied for fifth in the Big 12 Conference standings with a 3-4-1 mark. OSU returns eight starters and 18 letterwinners from last season, including five of their top six scorers.
   The 2017 season marks the 22nd in the history of the OSU women's soccer program; over their first 21 seasons the Cowgirls compiled a 238-141-44 (.615) record. OSU has earned a berth in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship in nine of the last 11 years, and head coach Colin Carmichael entered his 13th season at the helm with a 164-70-34 mark.Â
About The Opponents
   Texas A&M is 2-0-0 on the season with wins over Pepperdine and San Diego on opening weekend in San Diego. The 16th-ranked Aggies were scheduled to host Oregon last Saturday, but the match was cancelled due to weather concerns.
   OSU is 1-16-3 all time against Texas A&M. The Cowgirls' lone win came in the 2009 Big 12 Championship final which helped OSU claim its second-straight conference title.
   UTSA is 1-2-0 on the season heading into a Friday night contest at Baylor. The Roadrunners opened the season with a win over Abilene Christian but then fell at TCU and suffered a home loss to Stephen F. Austin.
   OSU won its only previous meeting with UTSA, that coming last season in Stillwater and resulting in a 5-0 victory for the Cowgirls. Jaci Jones scored a pair of goals in that game, while Marlo Zoller and Anna Beffer also scored.
On The Air & The WebÂ
   Fans wishing to follow this weekend's matches can do so in a variety of ways. Friday's game is available digitally on SEC Network+ via the WatchESPN app and SECSports.com with David Ellis and Kristi Leonard on the call. Sunday's match will be webcast on CUSA TV at conferenceusa.com/watch with a subscription/fee required to watch. Live stats will be available for both matches via links at www.okstate.com (link 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.Â
Winning Is A Habit
   The 2017 season marks the 22nd in Cowgirl Soccer 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 nine of the last 11 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.Â
   • 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 18 letterwinners from 2016, including eight who started at least 10 games for the Cowgirls.
   Five of OSU's top six scorers from a year ago — Jaci Jones, Haley Woodard, Marlo Zoller, Julia Lenhardt and Anna Beffer — are once again in the fold in 2017. That group combined for 20 goals and 16 assists last season.
Preseason Prognostications
   In preseason voting by the league's head coaches, OSU was picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 Conference standings behind five-time defending league champion West Virginia, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Baylor. Rounding out the list were TCU, Texas, Iowa State and Kansas State.
Home Sweet Home
   The Cowgirls are 3-0-0 on their home field in 2016. OSU is 78-16-9 (.801) at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex since 2008 and is 136-40-16 (.750) all time on its current home turf.Â
New Faces
   Eleven newcomers joined OSU's 32-player roster in 2017, and the group includes nine freshmen, a redshirt freshman and a Division I transfer. Nine of the newcomers have seen action through the first four games.
It's Good To Be Back
   On the strength of its 4-0-0 record, which marks the program's best start since winning six in a row to open the 2012 season, OSU entered the national rankings for the first time in five years this week as the Cowgirls checked in at No. 19 in the United Soccer Coaches poll. The last time OSU appeared in the rankings was Oct. 1, 2012, when it was No. 22 in the NSCAA poll.
Sharing The Love
   OSU's 12 goals in 2017 have been recorded by 10 different players, and six of those Cowgirls scorers have notched the first goals of their careers.
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 two weeks into the season, she is the top goal scorer in the Big 12.
   Playing wingback in OSU's new 3-4-3 system, Morgan has recorded three goals this season, 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's already matched that total. Jones has scored a point in every game this season, recording four assists over OSU's first three games before netting her first goal of 2017 vs. Creighton. Her four assists leads the Big 12 and ranks fourth nationally, and she's also tied for the Big 12 lead with six points.
Climbing The Charts
   Goalie Michela Ongaro is 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 13 shutouts and 207 saves, and her 1.15 goals against average is sixth all time. Ongaro led the Big 12 with 88 saves in 2016; the career-high total ranked as the eighth most in a single season in program history.
Quick Kicks
   OSU has outscored its opponents by a 12-2 margin this season, with their 12 goals ranking seventh nationally ... The Cowgirls are one of 36 unbeaten and untied teams remaining in Division I ... OSU is tied with TCU for the Big 12 lead with 12 goals and is also tied with Texas atop the conference with 38 corner kicks ... The Cowgirls rank second in the league in assists (12), points (36), goals allowed (2) and goals against average (0.50) ... OSU has scored three goals directly off corner kicks this season.
Big 12's Best
   A pair of Cowgirls earned conference honors for their play during the second week of the season as Charmé Morgan was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week and Kim Rodriguez collected Big 12 Freshman of the Week accolades after leading OSU to wins over OU and Creighton.
   Morgan recorded goals in both OSU games, including the game winner at OU, and aided a defensive unit that allowed only one score against it, while Rodriguez notched her first-career goal at OU and tallied the first assist of her career in the match against Creighton.
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 the Cowgirl Soccer program.
   With completion planned for the fall of 2018, the new home of OSU soccer 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.
   Another additional 900 seats will remain on the east side of the stadium, where they have been located since the program was launched.
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.
