Cowgirl Soccer All-Time Team: Midfielder

The Oklahoma State Cowgirl soccer program will mark its 20^th season in 2015. As we celebrate two decades of milestones, OSU head coach Colin Carmichael and assistant coach Karen Hancock, both of whom have been with the program since its inception and built it into a national power, collaborated on a list of the top players in Cowgirl soccer history. We'll reveal the top 11 daily on www.okstate.com over the next two weeks, and today we highlight the second of three Cowgirl midfielders.

Yolanda Odenyo – Uppsala, Sweden (2005-08)
Odenyo's collegiate résumé is a lengthy one, and her name is prominent throughout the OSU record book. Her four-year career spanned 86 games, and she is tied for the program's career lead in goals with 35 while sitting atop the career points list with 90 and ranking fifth all time with 20 assists.

As a sophomore in 2006, Odenyo became the first All-American in Cowgirl soccer history when she earned first-team honors from the NSCAA. She would also go on to earn All-America honors in each of her final two seasons.

A four-time All-Big 12 performer — three of those as a first teamer — Odenyo was the Big 12 Co-Player of the Year in 2006 and was named the league's Offensive Player of the Year in 2008.

Odenyo capped her career with a brilliant senior season in which she set OSU single-season records with 16 goals and 37 points, both of which also led the Big 12, and was a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy (given to the nation's top collegiate player). She also set a school record by scoring goals in seven consecutive games.

During Odenyo's impressive senior season, she led the '08 squad to the first regular season Big 12 championship in program history and into the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the third-straight year.

Colin Carmichael on Yolanda Odenyo: "Yolanda probably made the biggest impact of anyone in our program ever. She could do it all. She started as a center back with us and ended up as a center mid and forward when we needed a goal. If not for some back issues, she would have been drafted into the pro league and had a long professional career. She was a great player who saw the field so well and was just a great leader — probably her biggest attribute was she made everybody around her better."

Here's a video highlighting Odenyo as part of OSU's "Yo Knows Soccer" campaign during her senior season.

All-Time Cowgirl Soccer Team
GK – AD Franch
D – Lauren Colwell
D – Melinda Mercado
D – Carson Michalowski
D – Bridget Miller
MF – Annika Niemeier
MF – Yolanda Odenyo

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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