Cowgirls Top Kansas On Emotional Senior Day

Sunday, October 25

Stillwater, OK

1:00:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

9-7-2, 2-3-2

Kansas

8-8-1, 3-4-0

Kansas

Oklahoma State

2015 Cowgirl Seniors

October 25, 2015 | Cowgirl Soccer

Box Score

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STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma State picked up its fourth win in its last five matches Sunday as the Cowgirls knocked off Kansas, 2-0, in the final regular season contest at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex.

OSU got goals from Madison Mercado and Niki McKnight, and Michela Ongaro recorded her fifth shutout of the season as the Cowgirls improved to 9-7-2 overall and 2-3-3 in Big 12 Conference play.

Along with being Senior Day for seven OSU players, Sunday's game took on added significance and emotion following Saturday's tragedy at the OSU Homecoming Parade during which four people lost their lives and dozens others were injured.

"It was more than a soccer game today – it was big for Senior Day, and we wanted to honor those who lost their lives and the families affected in the tragedy yesterday," Mercado said. "OSU is such a tight-knit family, and we were hurt by it as much as everybody else was. It was very emotional. We talked about it, and we wanted to come in and play our hearts out for everybody."

Mercado put the Cowgirls on the scoreboard early as just 81 seconds into the match, she took a pass from Courtney Dike at the top of the 18-yard box and blasted a shot to the upper far post for her fourth goal of the season.

OSU's defense helped keep the Jayhawks (8-8-1, 3-4-0) off the scoreboard in the opening half as Ongaro made a pair of saves, and Allie Stephenson saved a KU header off the line with a header of her own to keep the ball out of the net.

Late in the half, the Cowgirls tallied their second goal when KU goalie Maddie Dobyns mishandled a ball in the box, and McKnight sent in the loose ball from six yards out to make it 2-0. McKnight's goal was her second in the last two games.

OSU's win helped the Cowgirls move into seventh place in the Big 12 standings heading into Friday's regular season finale at Oklahoma.