Streaking Cowgirl Soccer Back At Home

March 19, 2021 | Cowgirl Soccer

Game Notes (PDF)

UTEP (3-3-1)
at #15 Oklahoma State (9-2-1)

Sat., March 20 • 1 p.m. • Stillwater, Okla.
Neal Patterson Stadium (650)

TV/Video: None
Radio: None
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Updates: @CowgirlFC

About Oklahoma State

     • Winners of six straight, OSU returns home to Neal Patterson Stadium to put that streak on the line against UTEP on Saturday. OSU is 9-2-1 on the season; the Cowgirls went 6-2-1 in Big 12 play in the fall, finishing third in the conference standings.
     • The Cowgirls are coming off a championship season in 2019 as they went 16-3-3 overall and claimed the Big 12 Conference regular season title with a 7-1-1 league mark. OSU advanced to the second round of the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship and finished ranked as high as No. 13 nationally.
     • The Cowgirls return 16 letterwinners from 2019, including eight players who started at least 10 games.
     • The 2020 season is the 25th in program history; over the first 24, OSU posted a 289-164-54 (.623) record. Head coach Colin Carmichael entered his 16th season at the helm in 2020 with a 206-84-41 mark.

Winning Is A Habit

     Now in its 25th season, Oklahoma State soccer has built itself into an established winner.
     • OSU has earned a berth in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship 11 of the last 14 years (beginning in 2006) and five of the last seven.
     • 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). The Cowgirls also won regular season titles in 2017 and 2019.

This Week's Opponent

     • UTEP is 3-3-1 on the season, including an 0-3-0 record on the road.
     • Tessa Carlin leads the Miners with three goals, while Kam Fisher has tallied a team-high three assists.
     • OSU is 1-1-0 all time against UTEP. The first meeting was a 3-1 win for OSU in Stillwater, while the last meeting resulted in a 2-1 win by the Miners in El Paso during the 2000 season.

High Five

     For the second consecutive season, Oklahoma State had five players selected as All-Big 12 Conference performers while a pair of Cowgirl freshmen were also honored.
     Earning 2020 All-Big 12 First Team honors for the Cowgirls were defender Kim Rodriguez and forward Olyvia Dowell, while defender Charmé Morgan, midfielder Grace Yochum and forward Gabriella Coleman were named to the All-Big 12 Second Team.
     Additionally, defender Kionna Simon and midfielder Grace Dennis were chosen for the Big 12 All-Freshman Team, with Simon being a unanimous selection.
     OSU's five All-Big 12 honorees marks just the fourth time in program history five or more Cowgirls have garnered all-conference recognition and is tied for the second-highest total in school history. A program-record seven Cowgirls earned All-Big 12 status in 2011 while OSU previously had five All-Big 12 performers in 2010 and 2019.
     Rodriguez earned All-Big 12 First Team accolades for the second consecutive season, and the senior is now a three-time all-conference performer in her career. Both distinctions place her in rare company – she is only the sixth player in OSU history to earn first-team status twice or more in a career, and she is just the eighth Cowgirl to be named all-conference three or more times.

Home Sweet Home

     OSU went 10-0-1 on its home field in 2019, the seventh time in program history the Cowgirls have gone undefeated at home in a season. Seven of those wins came via shutout, and OSU did not allow a goal in its first five home matches.
     Now in their third season at NPS, the Cowgirls have compiled a 20-5-1 overall record (.788), including a 5-1-0 mark this season.
     OSU was 84-16-10 (.809) at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex from 2008-17 and was 142-40-17 (.756) all time on its former home turf.

Scoring Punch

OSU ranked 14th nationally with 50 goals in 2019, averaging 2.27 goals per game, and the Cowgirls return a large part of that production in 2020.
Six of the Cowgirls top eight goal scorers from a year ago return, with that group accounting for 37 goals. Grace Yochum had a team-high 11 goals last season, while Gabriella Coleman added nine; Olyvia Dowell and Charmé Morgan tallied five apiece. Yochum leads the Big 12 and ranks eighth nationally with eight goals in 2020-21, while Dowell is right behind her with seven to rank 11th in the nation.

In The Rankings

After being peaking at No. 4 during the fall season and finishing at No. 12 in the Nov. 24 poll, OSU is 14th in this week's United Soccer Coaches poll. The Cowgirls have appeared in the national rankings for 24 consecutive weeks dating back to last season, which they ended ranked as high as 13th in the final polls.

Game Recognize Game

     The Cowgirls have earned weekly awards from various entities numerous times this season, including:
     • Ally Jackson — TopDrawerSoccer.com Women's Team of the Week, Sept. 15
     • Grace Yochum — Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, Sept. 22, March 8 & March 15;
TopDrawerSoccer.com Women's Team of the Week, Sept. 22, March 8 & March 15; United Soccer Coaches D-I Player of the Week, March 9
     • Olyvia Dowell — Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, Sept. 29 & March 1; TopDrawerSoccer.com Women's Team of the Week, Sept. 29
     • Kionna Simon — Big 12 Freshman of the Week, Oct. 6
     • Emily Plotz — Big 12 Goalkeeper of the Week, Oct. 27, March 1 & March 8
     • Kim Rodriguez — TopDrawerSoccer.com Women's Team of the Week, Oct. 27 & March 1;
Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, March 1 & March 8
     • Hannah Webb — Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, Nov. 17
     • Alex Morris — Big 12 Freshman of the Week, March 1
     • Charmé Morgan — Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, March 15

Quick Kicks

     • Grace Yochum is the NCAA leader in game-winning goals with six, and her eight goals ranks seventh.
     • Olyvia Dowell, Gabriella Coleman and Grace Yochum each rank in the top 10 in the Big 12 in goals and have combined for 18 of OSU's 21 goals this season.
     • Kim Rodriguez moved into ninth on OSU's all-time assists list with a pair of assists against Little Rock. Rodriguez has 19 assists in her career, including three this season.