Cowgirl Soccer Set To Kickoff '23 Season

Stephen F. Austin at Oklahoma State

Thurs., Aug. 17 • 7 p.m.
Stillwater, Okla. • Neal Patterson Stadium

Oklahoma State at Missouri State

Sun., Aug. 20 • 1 p.m.
Springfield, Mo. • Allison South Stadium

TV/Video: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ (Mike Wolfe & Anna Beffer) vs. SFA/Not available vs. MSU
Radio: Stillwater Radio KGFY 105.5 FM/The Varsity Network (Bill Van Ness)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Updates: @CowgirlFC

About Oklahoma State

    • Oklahoma State is coming off an 11-4-4 season in 2022 in which the Cowgirls finished fifth in the Big 12 standings with a 4-2-3 mark.
     • The Cowgirls return 11 letterwinners from last season, including five starters in Xcaret Pineda, Mollie Breiner, Megan Haines, Alex Morris and Gracie Bindbeutel (out for 2023 with injury).
     • The 2023 season is the 28th in program history; over the first 27, OSU posted a 322-177-63 (.629) record. Head coach Colin Carmichael entered his 19th season at the helm in 2023 with a 239-97-50 mark.

Scouting The Opponents

     • Stephen F. Austin was 6-11-0 in 2022 in its third season under head coach Tony Minatta.
     • The Lumberjacks return their top two goal scorers from a year ago in junior forwards Lily Hargrove and Jayme Bailey; both finished with four goals in 2022.
     • OSU is 4-0-0 in the all-time series with SFA. Last season, the Cowgirls traveled to Nacogdoches and were 5-0 winners.
     • Missouri State will open the regular season on the road at SIUE Thursday night.
     • The Bears made the third NCAA Tournament appearance in program history in 2022 under first-year head coach Kirk Nelson; they finished the season with a 12-7-2 record.
     • MSU returns 10 starters from last season, led by reigning Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Grace O'Keefe and leading scorer Hailey Chambliss.
     • OSU is 6-2-1 all time against Missouri State. A year ago, the Cowgirls won a 4-0 contest in Stillwater.

Welcome Back

The 2023 Cowgirls are short on experience but do have several returning veterans. Senior Mollie Breiner has started 34 games at defender over the last two seasons, while fifth-year Cowgirl Megan Haines has seen her role increase over her career and has been a starter 34 times in the last three years. Another senior, Alex Morris, started 15 games last season and posted a career-high three assists.

New Faces

     The Cowgirls' 29-player 2023 roster counts 13 newcomers, including 10 freshmen and three Division I transfers.
     OSU's recruiting class was ranked 23rd nationally by TopDrawerSoccer.com; only Texas (14th) had a higher ranking class than the Cowgirls' among Big 12 programs.
     • Three of OSU's freshmen are on the list of TopDrawerSoccer.com's IMG Academy Top 200 players for the '23 recruiting class — midfielders Laudan Wilson (No. 74) and Lexi Lee (No. 78) and defender Addison Roberts (No. 168).
     • Wilson and Roberts were early enrollees in January 2023 and participated in the Cowgirls' spring exhibition season.
     • From the transfer portal, OSU added goalie Grace Gordon from Seton Hall and midfielder/forward Nicole Ray from Utah Valley, both of whom were three-year starters at their previous schools. The Cowgirls' roster also got a boost from Oklahoma transfer Ellie Geoffroy, who played in 19 games for OSU's Bedlam rival as a freshman last season.

Successful Starts

OSU has won seven consecutive season openers dating back to 2017. The Cowgirls undefeated in season openers since 2015, going 8-0-1 during that span.

D-Fense

OSU allowed just 14 goals in 19 games last season for a 0.74 goals against average, and the Cowgirls also posted 10 shutouts; those totals all ranked second in the Big 12.

Cowgirl Country

Oklahoma State's 2023 roster includes players from nine states as well as Canada and Northern Ireland.

Home Sweet Home

OSU has won 76 percent of its games in four seasons at Neal Patterson Stadium, which opened in 2019. The Cowgirls are 34-9-5 on their current home turf, including a 4-2-2 mark last season.
OSU has gone undefeated at home in seven seasons in its history, the last time coming in 2019.

Coach Colin

Colin Carmichael recorded his 200th career win with OSU's 2-0 victory at Texas on Oct. 11, 2019. Carmichael has spent all 18 of his seasons as a head coach in Stillwater.
Carmichael entered the 2023 season with 239 career wins, ranking fourth among active Big 12 coaches in wins at their current school behind only BYU's Jennifer Rockwood (425 wins in 28 seasons), West Virginia's Nikki Izzo-Brown (383 wins in 27 seasons) and Kansas' Mark Francis (258 wins in 24 seasons).

Winning Is A Habit

     Now in its 28th season, Oklahoma State soccer has built itself into an established winner.
     • OSU has earned a berth in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship 12 of the last 17 years (beginning in 2006) and six of the last 10.
     • 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.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Stephen F. Austin at Oklahoma State

Thurs., Aug. 17 • 7 p.m. Stillwater, Okla. • Neal Patterson Stadium

Oklahoma State at Missouri State

Sun., Aug. 20 • 1 p.m. Springfield, Mo. • Allison South Stadium

Players Mentioned

Gracie Bindbeutel

Mollie Breiner

Ellie Geoffroy

Grace Gordon

Megan Haines

Lexi Lee

Alex Morris

Xcaret Pineda

Nicole Ray

Addison Roberts

Laudan Wilson

Related Videos

Thurs., Aug. 17 • 7 p.m.
Stillwater, Okla. • Neal Patterson Stadium

Sun., Aug. 20 • 1 p.m.
Springfield, Mo. • Allison South Stadium