Cowgirl Soccer Back Home For Pair Of Big 12 Matches

Houston (3-8-1, 0-6-0) at Oklahoma State (9-2-3, 2-2-2)

Thurs., Oct. 10 • 7 p.m.
Stillwater, Okla. • Neal Patterson Stadium

Cincinnati (6-6-1, 2-4-0) at Oklahoma State (9-2-3, 2-2-2)

Sun., Oct. 13 • 1 p.m.
Stillwater, Okla. • Neal Patterson Stadium

TV/Video: ESPN+ (Dave Saunders & Anna Berghall)
Radio: The Varsity Network/Stillwater Radio KGFY 105.5 FM (Ryan Breeden)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Scoreboard/Updates: @CowgirlFC

About Oklahoma State

     • Oklahoma State is 9-2-3 on the season, including a 2-2-2 Big 12 mark, and has outscored its opponents, 30-6. This week, the Cowgirls host a pair of matches at Neal Patterson Stadium, taking on Houston Thursday night before a Sunday afternoon contest against Cincinnati.
     • OSU is coming off a 12-8-0 season in 2023 in which the Cowgirls finished seventh in the Big 12 standings with a 5-5-0 conference mark.
     • The Cowgirls return nine starters and 16 letterwinners from last season.
     • The 2024 season is the 29th in program history; over the first 28, OSU posted a 334-185-63 (.628) record. Head coach Colin Carmichael enters his 20th season at the helm in 2024 with a 251-105-50 mark.

Scouting The Opponent

     • Houston is 3-8-1 overall and 0-6-0 in the Big 12. The Cougars have been outscored 27-9 on the year.
     • OSU won its only previous meeting with Houston, picking up a 3-1 victory in Stillwater in 1998.
     • Cincinnati takes a 6-6-1 overall record that includes a 2-4-0 mark into a Thursday night match at Iowa State. The Bearcats are 1-4-0 on the road this season.
     • OSU's first-ever meeting with the Bearcats came last season in Cincinnati with UC winning, 1-0.

Last Week

OSU posted a 3-0 win at Kansas. The Cowgirls got goals from Logan Heausler, Gracie Bindbeutel and Laudan Wilson, all coming in the first half, and Grace Gordon recorded the shutout with a pair of saves.

In The Rankings

     After appearing in the national rankings for six consecutive weeks, the Cowgirls dropped out of the polls on Sept. 30/Oct. 1. The Cowgirls climbed as high as No. 11 in the Aug. 27th United Soccer Coaches poll, their highest ranking since they were No. 11 in both the United Soccer Coaches and TopDrawerSoccer.com polls on Nov. 17, 2020.
     OSU entered the national rankings on Aug. 19/20 for the first time since Aug. 30, 2021, when the Cowgirls were 22nd in the TDS poll.
     In this week's United Soccer Coaches Midwest Region Rankings, OSU is No. 5. The Cowgirls are also No. 30 in the official NCAA RPI; Houston is No. 142 and Cincinnati is 105th.

A Lot Of Nothing

OSU recorded shutouts in its first nine games and was not scored on for 8:46:10, marking the longest consecutive streaks by a team to start the 2024 season. Auburn recorded eight-straight shutouts and did not concede a goal over the first 741 minutes of its season.

Clean Sheets

     OSU's nine consecutive shutouts stands as the longest streak in program history. In 2011, the Cowgirls had shutout streaks of six and five matches, which marked the previous best streaks.
     • The streak of nine-straight shutouts is tied for the second longest in Big 12 Conference history. West Virginia owns the record with 10 in a row in 2016, while WVU (2015) and Nebraska (1997) also had streaks of nine consecutive clean sheets.
     • The Cowgirls' previous best shutout streak to begin a season was three games in 2005.
     • OSU's 11 shutouts in 2024 is the fifth most in a season in program history.
     • Grace Gordon's eight shutouts rank fourth nationally this season and are tied for the fourth most in a season in program history.

Start Streaking

     OSU's 5-0-0 start to the season was its best since starting 6-0-0 in 2012. The 2011 Cowgirls opened the season with a program record 15 consecutive wins.
     The Cowgirls' posted a nine-game unbeaten streak before losing to Colorado, which marked their longest to open a season since 2019 when OSU started 7-0-2.
     In 2011, the Cowgirls went unbeaten in their first 21 matches (19-0-2) to set a program benchmark. The 2003 squad did not lose in its first 13 matches (11-0-2), and four OSU teams - 2008 (9-0-1), 2005 (8-0-2), 2004 (9-0-1) and 2002 (10-0-0) - opened the season with 10-game unbeaten streaks.

Sharing the Wealth

OSU's 30 goals this season have been scored by 12 different players. Logan Heausler leads the Cowgirls with six goals, while Nicole Ray has five.
Fifteen Cowgirls have also recorded assists on the year, with Laudan Wilson and Alex Morris leading the way with five each; that duo is tied for fifth in the Big 12 in assists this season.

The Difference Between Me & You

OSU has outscored its opponents 30-6 on the year; the Cowgirls are tied for 10th nationally in goal differential.

Can't Stop, Won't Stop

OSU's trio of starting center backs is a big reason the Cowgirls have allowed just six goals this season - and it's rare to not see them on the field.
Mollie Breiner has played the full 90 minutes in 10 of OSU's 14 matches and has been on the field for 1,193 of a possible 1,260 minutes. Ellie Geoffroy has played full time in seven matches (1,089 minutes total), while Chloé Joseph has played 90 minutes five times (1,108 minutes total).

Recognized

     A list of OSU's award winners & honorees during the 2024 season:
     • Mollie Breiner - TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week, 8/20
                                    Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, 8/21
                                   TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week, 8/27
     • Grace Gordon - Big 12 Co-Goalkeeper of the Week, 8/21
                                    Big 12 Goalkeeper of the Week, 9/4
     • Bella Pierotti - Big 12 Freshman of the Week, 8/28
     • Ellie Geoffroy - Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, 9/11
     • Alex Morris - TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week, 8/17
                               Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, 10/9

X Gives It To Ya

     Junior midfielder Xcaret Pineda is one of the leaders of OSU's attack, and she had a breakout sophomore season to earn a spot on the 2023 All-Big 12 Second Team.
     Pineda started all 20 games for the Cowgirls a year ago and was second on the team with 17 points. She posted six goals and five assists, both of which rank third on the squad.
     The Illinois native led OSU with 60 shots, 25 of those on goal. She tallied three goals and an assist in Big 12 play.
     Pineda is OSU's second-leading scorer this season with four goals and three assists.

Climbing

Grace Gordon ranks fourth on OSU's career shutouts list with 14 in just 33 games in a Cowgirl uniform; she needs four more to move into third (AD Franch owns the record with 38 from 2009-12). Gordon has 23 clean sheets in her collegiate career after recording nine in three seasons at Seton Hall.
Gordon's 111 saves in an OSU uniform ranks seventh in program history, and she is currently tied for first in goals against average at 0.67.

Breakout

     In her first two collegiate seasons, Logan Heausler played in just 17 games; she appeared in 14 as a freshman then missed the majority of 2022 after suffering a season-ending injury just three games in.
     Last season, Heausler emerged as one of OSU's top attacking players as the Houston native played in all 20 games and was the Cowgirls' leading scorer with 18 points. She tied for the team lead with seven goals and turned in a streak of four consecutive matches - three of them against Big 12 opponents - in which she scored a goal.
     Heausler has continued to lead the attack in 2024 with a team-high six goals to go along with a pair of assists. She ranks second in the Big 12 in shots with 47.

Home Sweet Home

OSU has won 77 percent of its games in four seasons at Neal Patterson Stadium, which opened in 2019. The Cowgirls are 47-12-6 on their current home turf, including a 4-2-1 mark season.
OSU has gone undefeated at home in seven seasons in its history, the last time coming in 2019.

Houston (3-8-1, 0-6-0) at Oklahoma State (9-2-3, 2-2-2)

Thurs., Oct. 10 • 7 p.m.
Stillwater, Okla. • Neal Patterson Stadium

Cincinnati (6-6-1, 2-4-0) at Oklahoma State (9-2-3, 2-2-2)

Sun., Oct. 13 • 1 p.m.
Stillwater, Okla. • Neal Patterson Stadium

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Gracie Bindbeutel

Mollie Breiner

Ellie Geoffroy

Grace Gordon

Logan Heausler

Alex Morris

Bella Pierotti

Xcaret Pineda

Nicole Ray

Laudan Wilson

Oklahoma State University Athletics