Cowgirls Fall In Overtime To No. 2 West Virginia

Friday, October 23

Stillwater, OK

7:00:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

8-7-2, 1-3-2

West Virginia

15-1-1, 6-0-1

OT 1

West Virginia

Oklahoma State

Niki McKnight

October 23, 2015 | Cowgirl Soccer

Box Score

STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma State took No. 2 West Virginia to overtime Friday night, but the Cowgirls' upset bid fell short in the 94^th minute when the Mountaineers scored a golden goal to give the visitors a 2-1 victory at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex.

The loss snapped OSU's five-match unbeaten streak as the Cowgirls fell to 8-7-2 overall and 1-3-2 in Big 12 Conference play. WVU clinched at least a share of their fourth-straight league championship and are now 15-1-1 overall and 6-0-1 in the conference.

"It's tough – there's no moral victories," said OSU head coach Colin Carmichael. "We played straight-up with those guys, and I would say it was a pretty even game – and you get nothing… It's frustrating to be that close to winning or tying and get nothing. What we can take away, we're a good team. We've got good players, we competed really well and played some very good soccer, created some good looks at goal.

"There's a lot of positives. But ultimately, we came up short, and we're very bitterly disappointed in that."

Friday's first half was evenly matched, with WVU owning a slight 6-5 edge in shots and both goalies recording one save as the game went to intermission scoreless.

In the second half, WVU broke the scoreless drought in the 66^th minute when Carla Portillo took a cross through the box by Ashley Lawrence, beat an OSU defender and delivered a shot past OSU goalie Michela Ongaro.

The Cowgirls would not trail long, however, as less than five minutes later, Niki McKnight recorded the equalizer.

Playing in just her fourth game of the season due to offseason surgery, McKnight received a pass from Allie Stephenson and blasted a shot through the box that deflected off the far post and into the back of the net to make it 1-1.

McKnight's goal was the first of her career and only the fifth allowed by West Virginia in 17 games this season.

The game remained knotted at 1-1 until the 94^th minute when Kailey Utley drove through the Cowgirls' defense and delivered a shot that Ongaro deflected but was unable to stop. The golden goal marked Utley's ninth of the season and extended WVU's unbeaten streak to 15.

OSU returns to action with its final home match of the season Sunday at 1 p.m. against Kansas.