Cowgirls Win Bedlam On Stephenson Golden Goal

Oklahoma State's Allie Stephenson delivered a golden goal in the first overtime period to lift the Cowgirls to a 2-1 win over Bedlam-rival Oklahoma Friday night in front of a season-high 1,772 fans at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex.

With the win, which marked OSU's third in a row, the Cowgirls moved into first place in the Big 12 Conference standings at 4-1-1, and head coach Colin Carmichael's squad is now 9-7-1 overall.

OSU also improved to 20-4-3 all time against Oklahoma and finished the 2014 regular season with a 9-2-0 mark on its home field.

“It was typical Bedlam — tight game, a lot of play between the 18, some chances both ways,” Carmichael said. “What a goal to win it! That goal would have graced any field….

“It was a good game, fiercely contested, both teams played hard, and I'm just happy to come out on top.”

Stephenson's heroics came in the 97th minute. On OSU's 10th corner kick of the game, Kelsey Bass delivered a ball that hit the back of an OU defender and rolled to Stephenson, who drilled a 16-yard shot top shelf to the near post to set off a Cowgirl celebration.

“It's happened a couple of times now against OU,” said Stephenson, who delivered a game-winner with 46 seconds left in the second overtime of last season's Bedlam game in Norman. “That's my favorite spot to sit because (the ball) always pops out, and I always get a chance on it. I buried it, and it feels really good.”

The game was fiercely contested throughout, with the two teams combining for 30 fouls and five yellow cards. OSU edged the Sooners in shots, 13-10, while owning a 10-3 advantage in corner kicks.

The Cowgirls owned the majority of possession in the opening half and would take the game's early lead in the 35th minute. Following a scrum in the box for a loose ball, Delaney Kiely delivered her second goal of the season to put OSU up, 1-0. It was Kiely's third-career goal, with two of those coming against the Sooners.

OSU took the 1-0 advantage into intermission, but the Sooners (8-4-3, 2-1-1) would get the equalizer early in the second half when Chelsea Jackson connected a pass to Lizzie Luallin, who beat Cowgirl goalie Rosa Medina to the far post from 12-yards out to knot the score at 1-1.

OSU managed just two shots in the second half, but the Cowgirls had both shots in the extra period.

And they nearly sent in the game winner in the 95th minute when Madison Mercado blasted a shot that hit the bottom of the crossbar and bounced away.

Less than two minutes later, however, Stephenson erased that disappointment with her second game winner of the year, a goal that also marked her team-leading fifth of the season.

The win helped ease the pain of OSU's season-opening loss to OU in Norman, a 2-0 setback in a non-conference contest.

“We wanted that revenge so bad,” said Medina, who had three saves in the win over the Sooners. “The way we played them the first game was just awful — it was embarrassing, honestly. We just wanted to come out and kick their butt. We wanted to prove that we're a different team now, and we could come out and beat them.”

OSU returns to action Friday when the Cowgirls travel to Morgantown to take on West Virginia. Carmichael's squad closes out the regular season at Texas on Oct. 31.