Oklahoma State University Athletics
Thursday, August 18
Omaha, NE
7:00 PM
Oklahoma State University
at
Omaha
Cowgirl Soccer Set To Open 2022 Season
August 17, 2022 | Cowgirl Soccer
Game Notes
Oklahoma State at Omaha
Thurs., Aug. 18 • 7 p.m. • Omaha, Neb.
Caniglia Field (3,466)
Missouri State at Oklahoma State
Sun., Aug. 21 • 1 p.m. • Stillwater, Okla.
Neal Patterson Stadium (2,500)
TV/Video: Thurs. - omavs.com/watch
               Sun. - Big 12 Now on ESPN+ (Mike Wolfe & Anna Beffer)
Radio: Thurs. - n/a
          Sun. - Stillwater Radio KGFY 105.5 FM/stillwaterradio.net (Bill Van Ness)
Live Stats: Thurs. - omavs.com/sidearmstats/wsoc
         Sun. - okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Updates: @CowgirlFC
About Oklahoma State
    • Oklahoma State opens the 2022 season with a split week beginning with a road match at Omaha on Thursday night before returning to Stillwater for its home opener Sunday afternoon against Missouri State at Neal Patterson Stadium.
   • OSU is coming off a 9-6-3 season in 2021 in which the Cowgirls finished fourth in the Big 12 standings at 4-3-1.
    • The Cowgirls return 11 letterwinners from last season, including six starters and a pair of three-time All-Big 12 performers in Grace Yochum and Olyvia Dowell.
    • The 2022 season is the 27th in program history; over the first 26, OSU posted a 311-173-59 (.627) record. Head coach Colin Carmichael entered his 17th season at the helm in 2021 with a 228-93-46 mark.
Scouting The Opponents
    • Omaha is coming off a 9-8-1 season in which it finished third in the Summit League.
    • The Mavericks return eight starters from a year ago, including leading scorer Sophia Green, who had six goals as a sophomore. Tim Walters is in his sixth season as Omaha's head coach.
    • OSU is 2-0-0 all time against Omaha, winning 3-0 last season and 1-0 in 2019; both previous matches were played in Stillwater.
    • Missouri State opens its season Thursday at home against Central Arkansas.
    • The Bears are coming off a 5-7-5 season and are led by preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference selections Isabel Burke and Grace O'Keefe and first-year head coach Kirk Nelson.
    • OSU is 2-0-1 in the all-time series with Missouri State. The last time the two teams met came in the opening round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament in Stillwater, with the Cowgirls advancing on penalty kicks after battling to a 1-1 tie.
Scoring Punch
    OSU returns 65 percent of its goal scoring from last season as six players that combined to score 17 of the Cowgirls' 26 goals are back.
    Olyvia Dowell and Grace Yochum tied for the team lead last season with six goals apiece. Ally Jackson found the back of the net twice, while Megan Haines, Mollie Breiner and Summer Chaffin each had a goal.
Middle Motivation
    In a preseason vote of the conference's head coaches, OSU was picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 race in 2022.
    OSU was one of three teams, along with TCU and Texas, with multiple players on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team as Olyvia Dowell and Grace Yochum earned that distinction. Yochum was the only unanimous selection.
Rare Air
    Olyvia Dowell and Grace Yochum have each earned All-Big 12 recognition three times in their careers, becoming just the ninth and 10th players in program history to earn all-conference honors three or more times.
    Yochum was named to the All-Big 12 First Team in 2019 and 2021, and she is only the seventh Cowgirl to achieve first-team status multiple times in a career.
    Dowell was an All-Big 12 First Team honoree in 2020 and was on the second team in 2019 and 2021.
    Only four Cowgirls have been named All-Big 12 four times in a career - Yolanda Odenyo, AD Franch, Courtney Dike and Natalie Calhoun.
Welcome Back
    In Grace Yochum and Ally Jackson, Oklahoma State has a pair of players who will be playing their fifth seasons in an OSU uniform. Both are taking advantage of an extra season of eligibility offered by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic that altered the 2020 season.
    Entering the '22 season, the Jackson/Yochum duo has combined to play in 144 career games with 110 starts. Jackson has led the team in minutes played among field players each of the last three seasons.
New Faces
    The Cowgirls' 2022 roster counts 12 newcomers, which includes seven freshmen and five Division I transfers.
    • Eryka McIntyre and Blythe Beldner transferred to OSU from Missouri, where that duo combined to play in 111 games for the Tigers, while Niah Johnson started 55 games over the last four seasons at Mississippi State and tallied eight goals and three assists.
    • Three of OSU's freshmen were named Gatorade Player of the Year in their respective states - Sami Allen (Oklahoma), Gracie Bindbeutel (Missouri) and Jordan Nytes (Colorado). Bindbeutel was a two-time Gatorade state player of the year and was also a three-time United Soccer Coaches High School All-American.
In Her Sights
    Grace Yochum has established herself as one of the Big 12's top scorers, and she is chasing history as OSU's all-time leading goal scorer.
    In 69 career games, Yochum has amassed 33 goals, which ranks third on OSU's all-time list; she is two away from tying the record of 35 held by Yolanda Odenyo and Jolene Schweitzer.
    As a freshman in 2018, Yochum tallied four goals. She followed that with 11 as a sophomore, 12 in 2020 and six last season.
She's A Giver
    Olyvia Dowell enters the season 10th on OSU's all-time assists list with 18. She has had season assist totals of eight, seven and three in her three years as a Cowgirl.
Scoring Surge
    Olyvia Dowell has added firepower to the OSU attack since stepping on campus in 2019.
    With 23 career goals, Dowell is just one shy of the top 10 on OSU's all-time list, and with eight points, she will also enter the top 10 in that category.
    As a freshman, Dowell recorded five goals and eight assists, and she followed that with an even more impressive showing as a sophomore as she ranked fifth in the NCAA with 31 points on the strength of 12 goals and seven assists. Her 12 goals tied for the Big 12 lead along with teammate Grace Yochum and ranked sixth nationally; the seven assists topped the conference. Dowell's goal total also marked the most ever goals by an OSU sophomore, and the 31 points was the seventh most in a single season in program history.
    Dowell tied for the OSU team lead with six goals in 2021, with five of her goals coming in Big 12 play.
Clutch
    Grace Yochum and Olyvia Dowell have combined for 23 game-winning goals in their careers, with Yochum notching 16 and Dowell adding seven. Yochum led the NCAA with eight game-winning goals during the 2020 season.
Honor Roll
    A list of current Cowgirls who have been recognized with national and conference accolades.
    • Grace Yochum - All-BIg 12 First Team (2021); United Soccer Coaches All-Midwest Region Second Team (2021); All-Big 12 Second Team (2020); United Soccer Coaches All-Midwest Region Third Team (2020); All-Big 12 First Team (2019); United Soccer Coaches All-Midwest Region Second Team (2019); Big 12 All-Freshman Team (2018) Â
    • Olyvia Dowell - All-BIg 12 Second Team (2021); United Soccer Coaches All-Midwest Region Third Team (2021); TopDrawerSoccer.Com Preseason Best XI Second Team (2021); All-Big 12 First Team (2020); United Soccer Coaches All-Midwest Region Second Team (2020); TopDrawerSoccer.Com Best XI Third Team (2020); Big 12 All-Freshman Team (2019)
    • Kionna Simon - Big 12 All-Freshman Team (2020)
    • Jordan Nytes - TopDrawerSoccer.Com Preseason Freshman Best XI Team (2022)
Preseason Love
   Grace Yochum is one of 38 players on the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Midfielders to Watch List, and she came in at No. 67 on the TopDrawerSoccer.com Preseason Women's Top 100 Players list.
   Jordan Nytes was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Preseason Freshman Best XI at goalkeeper.
Players Mentioned
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