Cowgirl Soccer Travels To Sunflower State For Saturday Showdown – Oklahoma State University Athletics

Oklahoma State (8-2-3, 1-2-2) at Kansas (5-4-3, 2-3-0)

Sat., Oct. 5 • 6 p.m.

Lawrence, Kan. • Rock Chalk Park

 
TV/Video: ESPN+ (Josh Klingler & Sarah Gonzalez)
Radio: The Varsity Network/Stillwater Radio KGFY 105.5 FM (Karsten Melton)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Scoreboard/Updates: @CowgirlFC
 

About Oklahoma State

     • Oklahoma State is 8-2-3 on the season, including a 1-2-2 Big 12 mark, and has outscored its opponents, 27-6. This week, the Cowgirls face a road test at Kansas on Saturday night in Lawrence.
     • 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

     • Kansas is 5-4-3 overall and one spot ahead of OSU in the Big 12 standings with a 2-3-0 conference record. The Jayhawks are 2-2-2 on their home field this season. Last week, KU beat UCF, 4-0, at home before traveling to Colorado and dropping a 1-0 contest.
     • OSU is 16-11-4 all time against Kansas and have won the last three meetings against the Jayhawks. Last season, the Cowgirls won a 1-0 match in Stillwater.
 

Last Week

     OSU picked up a pair of Big 12 Conference points with road draws at BYU and Utah. Thursday night against the Cougars, Xcaret Pineda and Nicole Ray each had a goal and an assist in the 2-2 tie. On Sunday, Grace Gordon recorded her seventh shutout of the season with four saves in a 0-0 draw at Utah.
 

In The Rankings

     After appearing in the national rankings for six consecutive weeks, the Cowgirls dropped out of the polls this week. 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. 33 in the official NCAA RPI; Kansas is No. 94.
 

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.
     • Santa Clara owns the NCAA record for consecutive shutouts with 16 in 1998.
     • The Cowgirls’ previous best shutout streak to begin a season was three games in 2005.
     • Grace Gordon’s seven shutouts rank sixth nationally this season and are tied for the fifth most in a season in program history.
 

Sharing the Wealth

     OSU’s 27 goals this season have been scored by 11 different players. Logan Heausler and Nicole Ray lead the Cowgirls with five goals apiece.
     Fourteen Cowgirls have also recorded assists on the year, with Laudan Wilson and Alex Morris leading the way with four 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 27-6 on the year; the Cowgirls are tied for 11th 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 nine of OSU’s 13 matches and has been on the field for 1,103 of a possible 1,170 minutes. Ellie Geoffroy has played full time in six matches (999 minutes total), while Chloé Joseph has played 90 minutes four times (1,018 minutes total).
 

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 fifth on OSU’s career shutouts list with 13 in just 32 games in a Cowgirl uniform; she needs one more to move into fourth (AD Franch owns the record with 38 from 2009-12). Gordon has 22 clean sheets in her collegiate career after recording nine in three seasons at Seton Hall.
     Gordon’s 109 saves in an OSU uniform ranks seventh in program history, and she is currently fourth in goals against average at 0.70.
 

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 five goals to go along with a pair of assists. She ranks second in the Big 12 in shots with 45.