Friday Soccer Roundup

West Virginia 2 Oklahoma State 1 (2OT)

In a battle of the two teams atop the Big 12 Conference standings, eighth-ranked West Virginia got a golden goal in the 103rd minute Friday night to hand Oklahoma State a 2-1 loss in double overtime at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.

The loss snapped the Cowgirls' three-game winning streak as they fell to 9-8-1 overall and 4-2-1 in conference play. WVU ran its unbeaten streak to 13, and the Mountaineers are now 12-2-2 and 5-0-1 in the league.

OSU goalie Rosa Medina finished with 11 saves, two shy of her career high, but she couldn't quite make the stop on Kailey Utley's blast from the top of the 18-yard box as it found the far post for the game winner.

“It's tough; (West Virginia) is a good team, and I thought we just played okay – we didn't play our best,” said OSU head coach Colin Carmichael. “When you go on the road, the chances you get, you've got to be clinical, and we were not. We had a couple of good looks that we need to finish, and on the other end you get punished for mistakes.

“It was a pretty close game. (WVU) had the better of the play, but chances-wise it was relatively close and could have gone either way. But against a good team on the road, they'll punish you for your mistakes and you've got to capitalize on theirs – that was the difference in the game.”

The game was statistically even after the opening half and went into intermission scoreless. Both teams had eight shots, two each on goal, and both teams also had shots that deflected off the crossbar.

The Cowgirls would finally break the scoreless streak at the 78:07 mark when leading scorer Allie Stephenson delivered a low shot to the near post from 12-yards out for a 1-0 OSU lead. The goal was Stephenson's sixth of the season.

The lead was short-lived, however, as just 49 seconds later, Utley netted the first of her two goals in the match. After a header by Cari Price into the box, Utley sent a shot past Medina to the far post for the equalizer.

“It's very tough, but it happens in soccer a lot – you're most vulnerable to being scored on after you've just scored,” said Carmichael of WVU's quick equalizer. “You yell at your kids and try to keep them up and going. But credit to West Virginia – they served a dangerous ball and their kid nipped in front of one of our backs and scored. From our standpoint, we need to have better concentration than that.”

With the score knotted at 1-1, Medina rose to the occasion down the stretch, making four saves over the final 7:15 of regulation, including a diving stop of a shot by Kate Schwindel with just three ticks left on the clock.

In the first overtime, OSU collected shots by Krissi Killion and Madison Mercado, but both were wide of the mark, while Medina tallied two more saves on five shots by the Mountaineers.

The second extra period saw Medina notch her final save of the night on a chance by Amandine Pierre-Louis, but just 22 seconds later, Utley set off a WVU celebration when her shot glanced off the hands of a diving Medina and into the corner of the net.

“(Medina is) upset because she felt like she should have saved that one and she probably should've, but what I told her was without her making four or five big plays we wouldn't have been in overtime,” Carmichael said. “There's no blame attached to Rosa; she had a very good night.”

OSU concludes the regular season Friday night when the Cowgirls travel to Austin, Texas, to take on Texas.

Texas 1 Oklahoma 0

An early goal proved decisive on Friday night as the Oklahoma soccer team fell to Texas by a final score of 1-0.

The match was low on offense after the early goal, with both teams combining for only three shots on goal and five corner kicks. The Sooners (8-6-3, 2-3-0 Big 12) pressed Texas (9-6-2, 3-3-0 Big 12) in possession but struggled to put together solid opportunities on goal throughout the contest.

Despite the loss, Oklahoma has clinched a spot in the 2014 Big 12 Soccer Championship due to results from Friday night's matches around the league. The Sooners join Baylor, Texas Tech and Texas as teams to clinch the first four spots in the championship field.

Texas struck nearly straight out of the gates in the 45th second of play when Whitney Jaynes sent in a textbook cross that Morgan Murphy connected with on the header goal. The goal was UT's only shot on goal of the entire match, but would end up being the game-winning effort.

After the initial shot, the Sooners settled down and began to find themselves locked into a midfield battle with the Longhorns. Lizzie Luallin took OU's first shot in the 12th minute, but her effort was block and quickly snagged by Texas GK Abby Smith.

OU found itself possessing in UT's territory on several occasions in the half but grappled with creating scoring chances; three Sooner opportunities were whistled offside in the first half alone. Texas took three quick shots in the last five minutes of the half but OU blocked one and forced the other pair wide to escape with no damage done.

Oklahoma came out swinging early in the second half. Shiloh Price led the charge, sending in a pair of shots on goal to try and jump-start the Sooner team. Smith was there to intercept both and prevent an OU equalizer.

The Sooners were forced to play one down beginning in the 68th minute when OU goalkeeper Kassidie Stade was carded for contact with the ball outside of the box. Kaitlyn Fahrner subbed in and helped the Sooners clear out the resulting free kick and corner kick to avoid an extension of the Texas lead.

Oklahoma battled with heart despite going one player down; the squad pushed downfield several times as the clock moved toward the 90th minute, working to find an equalizing goal.

Abby Hodgen had a chance as the match entered the final 10 minutes of play when Smith failed to control a ball in the Texas box. Hodgen did battle with the GK as Smith repeatedly lost and regained possession, but Texas eventually corralled the ball and cleared the box.

As the final minute wound down, the Sooners had one last opportunity from Jackson and Luallin. The duo attempted to control a ball in the box despite being outnumbered by UT defenders, but Smith was there again to foil the chance. Seconds later, the score went final.

The Sooners hit the road tomorrow, flying east for a Sunday match against No. 10 West Virginia in Morgantown. The match is slated for a noon CT start with a live national broadcast on ROOT Sports Pittsburgh.

Western Illinois 3 Oral Roberts 2

The Oral Roberts University women's soccer team dropped a Summit League match on Friday as the Golden Eagles fell 3-2 at the hands of Western Illinois in Macomb, Illinois.

ORU's record moved to 2-8-3 overall and 1-3-0 in the Summit League, while WIU improved to 3-11-1 and 2-2-1 in the league.

Daniela Salinas put WIU on the board first in the 11th minute as she stole the ball on the Leatherneck half of the pitch and beat Helen Erb one-on-one to give the Leathernecks a 1-0 lead.

In the 32nd minute, Sarah Hall extended the lead to 2-0 with a shot that was deflected by a Golden Eagle defender into the net.

The Golden Eagles answered three minutes later as Maria Stordahl got a touch over a WIU defender, setting up Cheyenne Diggs who finished from the top of the box to cut the lead to 2-1.

Amanda Dial delivered the equalizer for the Golden Eagles in the 62 minute, collecting a pass from Stordahl and striking it from six yards out to knot the match at two.

However, Hall scored her second goal of the match in the 75th minute for the game-winner.

ORU looks to rebound on Sunday as the Golden Eagles travel to Omaha for a league contest. Kickoff is scheduled for noon.