Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowgirl Soccer Top 20 Moments, 1996-2014
August 11, 2015 | Cowgirl Soccer
The Oklahoma State Cowgirl soccer program will mark its 20th season in 2015. As we celebrate two decades of milestones, OSU head coach Colin Carmichael and assistant coach Karen Hancock, who each have been with the program since its inception and served stints as head coaches to help build the program into a national power, collaborated on a list of the top 20 moments in Cowgirl soccer history. This week, we'll reveal the five remaining moments on their list (which is in no particular order) on www.okstate.com.
School-record 22 wins and second-straight trip to the Elite Eight in 2011
Among the many accomplishments for Oklahoma State over the program's first two decades, none were more impressive than those compiled by the 2011 Cowgirls.
Perhaps their most remarkable achievement was a 21-game unbeaten streak, the longest in school history.
OSU opened the '11 season with a 1-0 win over TCU on Aug. 19. Over the next two-plus months, the Cowgirls would go 19-0-2 (tying Texas and Texas A&M) before the streak finally came to an end in the Big 12 Championship title game in a 1-0 loss to Texas A&M on Nov. 6.
During their impressive run, OSU won its second Big 12 Conference regular season championship and occupied a No. 2 ranking in the national polls for eight consecutive weeks.
Following the setback against TAMU in the conference tourney, OSU immediately began another winning streak as they opened the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship with wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Illinois and Maryland to advance to the NCAA Elite Eight for the second-straight year.
In that NCAA Quarterfinal match, the Cowgirls dropped a 2-1 overtime contest at No. 1 Stanford, which went on to win the national championship.
OSU finished the historic season with a 22-2-2 record and led the NCAA in shutouts (18) and goals-against average (0.337). Melinda Mercado and AD Franch each earned first-team All-American honors, and seven Cowgirls collected All-Big 12 accolades, including five first teamers.
Since the NCAA Tournament field expanded to 64 teams, OSU is one of only two Big 12 programs to advance to the Elite Eight multiple times (along with Texas A&M). And only the TAMU teams of 2001-02 and OSU's 2010-11 teams made back-to-back appearances.
Colin Carmichael: "That run, we didn't even talk about the wins and being on such a great run, we just kept saying 'Next game, next game, next game.' It seemed like for two-thirds of the season Stanford was No. 1, and we were No. 2. We didn't talk about winning and losing, but we always checked after we won to see if Stanford won because we wanted to be No. 1. They kept winning as well.
"You don't really get caught up in the moment, you're just thinking about the next game. The big picture was wanted to get that No. 1 ranking, but just didn't quite get there.
"Those kids were special. They just kept finding ways to win close games. The number of games we won late during that run was quite amazing."
School-record 22 wins and second-straight trip to the Elite Eight in 2011
Among the many accomplishments for Oklahoma State over the program's first two decades, none were more impressive than those compiled by the 2011 Cowgirls.
Perhaps their most remarkable achievement was a 21-game unbeaten streak, the longest in school history.
OSU opened the '11 season with a 1-0 win over TCU on Aug. 19. Over the next two-plus months, the Cowgirls would go 19-0-2 (tying Texas and Texas A&M) before the streak finally came to an end in the Big 12 Championship title game in a 1-0 loss to Texas A&M on Nov. 6.
During their impressive run, OSU won its second Big 12 Conference regular season championship and occupied a No. 2 ranking in the national polls for eight consecutive weeks.
Following the setback against TAMU in the conference tourney, OSU immediately began another winning streak as they opened the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship with wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Illinois and Maryland to advance to the NCAA Elite Eight for the second-straight year.
In that NCAA Quarterfinal match, the Cowgirls dropped a 2-1 overtime contest at No. 1 Stanford, which went on to win the national championship.
OSU finished the historic season with a 22-2-2 record and led the NCAA in shutouts (18) and goals-against average (0.337). Melinda Mercado and AD Franch each earned first-team All-American honors, and seven Cowgirls collected All-Big 12 accolades, including five first teamers.
Since the NCAA Tournament field expanded to 64 teams, OSU is one of only two Big 12 programs to advance to the Elite Eight multiple times (along with Texas A&M). And only the TAMU teams of 2001-02 and OSU's 2010-11 teams made back-to-back appearances.
Colin Carmichael: "That run, we didn't even talk about the wins and being on such a great run, we just kept saying 'Next game, next game, next game.' It seemed like for two-thirds of the season Stanford was No. 1, and we were No. 2. We didn't talk about winning and losing, but we always checked after we won to see if Stanford won because we wanted to be No. 1. They kept winning as well.
"You don't really get caught up in the moment, you're just thinking about the next game. The big picture was wanted to get that No. 1 ranking, but just didn't quite get there.
"Those kids were special. They just kept finding ways to win close games. The number of games we won late during that run was quite amazing."
Cowgirl Equestrian Big 12 Champs! - Inside OSU Athletics with Larry Sanchez
Friday, April 03
Title Talk | Landon Robideau Breaks Down His NCAA Championship vs. Defending Champ Antrell Taylor
Tuesday, March 31
Title Talk | Sergio Vega Breaks Down His NCAA Championship Win vs. 2x Champ Jesse Mendez (141 lbs)
Monday, March 30
Jax Forrest called it a tad early 🗣️🏆 #wrestling
Friday, March 27
