Cowgirls Still Perfect In Big 12 After Win over Colorado
STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma State maintained its spot atop the Big 12 Conference standings and extended its unbeaten streak with a 3-2 win over Colorado Thursday night at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex.
Katie Richardson netted a pair of goals as the No. 5 Cowgirls improved to 13-1-1 overall and 6-0-0 in league play. OSU’s unbeaten streak now stands at 12, just one shy of the school record set in 2003.
“There was some good, some bad, but I’m very, very happy with the win,” said head coach Colin Carmichael. “For 25 minutes in the first half, we were great. Then Colorado, credit to them, came into the game and made it tough. The second half was back-and-forth, and they made us work for every minute.”
dominated much of the first half of play, outshooting the Buffs by a 6-1 margin, and the Cowgirls took an early lead compliments of Kyndall Treadwell and Krista Lopez.
Just under 10 minutes into the match, Treadwell sent a beautiful long pass that hit Lopez in stride, and Lopez delivered a shot into the back of the net from nine-yards out. The goal was the 12th of the season for Lopez, tying her for the fifth-most goals in a single season in school history, while Treadwell earned her third assist of the season on the play.
The Cowgirls took the 1-0 lead into the halftime locker room, but the second half would see both teams provide plenty of scoring action.
Less than three minutes into the final half, Richardson recorded her first goal of the night. After her initial shot was blocked, she corralled the rebound and this time beat the defense and CU goalie Annie Brunner to give the Cowgirls a 2-0 lead.
The lead would not hold up, however.
Just 50 seconds after Richardson’s goal, Kassidy Fitzpatrick put CU on the board with a goal from nine-yards out that came off an assist from Kate Russell.
CU (6-8-1, 2-4-1) would get the equalizer off a corner kick in the 58th minute. Caroline Danneberg took the corner on the far side, and after her kick was mishandled by goalie AD Franch, Shaye Marshall headed it in for her third goal of the season to knot the score at 2-2.
The game of back-and-forth scoring didn’t take long to continue. In the 59th minute, Richardson scored a spectacular goal as she beat several defenders, then Brunner, before converting an open-net opportunity for what proved to be the game-winning goal.
“(Richardson) was fantastic. She stepped up in the second half and won us the game,” Carmichael said. “The second goal was basically just an individual effort. She just wanted that goal more than the defenders wanted the ball.
“We told her after the game she won the game for us — no doubt about it.”
Richardson’s two goals marked the fourth two-goal game of her career and leaves her just one goal shy of entering the top 10 on OSU’s career goals list.
But the Cowgirl senior was more excited about the win following the game.
“We definitely needed to come out and win to keep an undefeated record in the Big 12 and since I’ve been here, we’ve never beaten Colorado so it was a big personal goal to beat them before I left,” Richardson said.
OSU’s defense came up big down the stretch as the Cowgirls were able to stave off a number of offensive attacks by Colorado to prevent the equalizer.
The Cowgirls return to action Saturday when they host Nebraska in their final regular-season home match of the year. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
Updated 10-15-2010
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