Cowgirl Soccer Opens Big 12 Play In The Sunflower State

Game Notes

Oklahoma State (7-1-1) at Kansas (7-3-0)

Thurs., Sept. 22 • 7 p.m. • Lawrence, Kan.
Rock Chalk Park (2,500)

Oklahoma State (7-1-1) at Kansas State (4-4-1)

Sun., Sept. 25 • 1 p.m. • Manhattan, Kan.
Buser Family Park (1,622)

TV/Video: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: Stillwater Radio KGFY 105.5 FM/stillwaterradio.net (Bill Van Ness)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com (Thurs.) kstatesports.com/sidearmstats/wsoc/ (Sun.)
Twitter In-Game Updates: @CowgirlFC

About Oklahoma State

     • Oklahoma State is 7-1-1 and enters Big 12 Conference play on a four-game winning streak. The Cowgirls open league play on the road this week, beginning with a Thursday night tilt at Kansas before a Sunday contest at Kansas State.
    • 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

     • Kansas is 7-3-0, including a 4-1-0 mark at home, under 24th-year head coach Mark Francis.
     • The Jayhawks have outscored their opponents 15-7 on the season. Shira Elinav leads KU with five goals, while Rylan Childers has tallied three goals and three assists.
     • OSU is 14-11-4 all time against the Jayhawks, including a 3-1 win last season in Stillwater.
     • Kansas State is 4-4-1 and opens Big 12 play at Iowa State on Thursday.
     • Kyler Goins leads the Wildcats with five goals, while goalie Alaina Werremeyer has posted four shutouts in eight games.
     • OSU owns a 5-0-0 all-time record against K-State. The Cowgirls won in Stillwater last season, 2-0.

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 league's head coaches, OSU was picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 in 2022.
OSU was one of three teams, along with TCU and Texas, with multiple players on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team; Olyvia Dowell and Grace Yochum earned the honor, with Yochum 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 duo 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 had 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, including 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 also a three-time United Soccer Coaches High School All-American.

D-Fense

OSU has allowed just four goals this season while posting a 0.44 goals against average and six shutouts – the Cowgirls lead the Big 12 in each of those categories.

Dynamic Duo

Grace Yochum and Olyvia Dowell rank second in the Big 12 and 10th nationally with seven goals on the season. The duo has combined for 14 of OSU's 21 goals on the season.

Goal Queen

     Grace Yochum sits atop the list of Oklahoma State's all-time goal scorers.
     In 78 career games, Yochum has amassed 40 goals. Against Stephen F. Austin, she tied OSU's previous career record of 35 with her first goal and then broke the mark with her second of the contest.
     The previous record of 35 was held by Jolene Schweitzer and Yolanda Odenyo. Schweitzer first set the mark in 2004, and Odenyo tied it in 2008.
     As a freshman in 2018, Yochum tallied four goals. She followed that with 11 as a sophomore, 12 in 2020 and six last season. Her five goals this season are tied for the most in the Big 12.
     Yochum is also second on the Cowgirls' all-time points list with 89. Odenyo tops that list with 90.

Scoring Surge

     Olyvia Dowell has added firepower to the OSU attack since stepping on campus in 2019.
   With 30 career goals, Dowell is tied for sixth on OSU's all-time list, and her 79 points is tied for seventh. She also ranks third with 220 shots.
     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 28 game-winning goals in their careers, with Yochum notching 20 and Dowell adding eight.
Yochum led the NCAA with eight game-winning goals during the 2020 season, and her three game winners are the third most in the NCAA this season.

Quick Kicks

     • Olyvia Dowell was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week for Week One after leading the conference with three goals in the first two games of the season. She also topped the league with nine shots, four of those on goal.
     • Ally Jackson recorded a pair of assists in the win against Missouri State, which set a season career high for the fifth-year senior. Her only previous assist came in 2020. She now has three on the season.
   • Grace Yochum was the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week for Week Four after scoring four goals in a pair of wins and setting OSU's all-time goals record in the process.
     • For their Week Five performances in wins over Mercer and Brown, Jordan Nytes was named the Big 12 Goalkeeper of the Week, while Olyvia Dowell was named to the College Soccer News Women's National Team of the week and was honorable mention for the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week.

Freshmen Showing Out

Freshman goalie Jordan Nytes has started every game in goal for the Cowgirls this season and in just over 755 minutes of action, she leads the Big 12 in goals against average (0.48) and is second in save percentage (.850). She has recorded three shutouts and combined for three others as OSU leads the league with six clean sheets.
Fellow frosh Gracie Bindbeutel ranks seventh nationally in shot accuracy, with 13 of her 18 shots (.722) being on goal. Bindbeutel has a pair of goals on the year.

Checking The Rankings

OSU moved up one spot to No. 3 in this week's United Soccer Coaches Midwest Region rankings; the Cowgirls are behind conference foes TCU and Texas and just ahead of Kansas. OSU also received three votes in the United Soccer Coaches national rankings poll.
The Cowgirls checked in at No. 42 in the first official NCAA RPI of 2022, while Kansas is No. 64 and Kansas State No. 141.

Oklahoma State (7-1-1) at Kansas (7-3-0)

Thurs., Sept. 22 • 7 p.m. • Lawrence, Kan.
Rock Chalk Park (2,500)

Oklahoma State (7-1-1) at Kansas State (4-4-1)

Sun., Sept. 25 • 1 p.m. • Manhattan, Kan.
Buser Family Park (1,622)

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Sami Allen

Blythe Beldner

Gracie Bindbeutel

Mollie Breiner

Summer Chaffin

Olyvia Dowell

Megan Haines

Ally Jackson

Niah Johnson

Eryka McIntyre

Jordan Nytes

Grace Yochum

Oklahoma State University Athletics