Published: October 13, 2008 10:57 am            

Cowgirls fall behind and win in comeback, again

The Comeback Cowgirls strike again.

No. 13 Oklahoma State overcame another late deficit and defeated Missouri, 3-2, in overtime Sunday in front of 616 fans at Cowgirl Soccer Complex. It was almost a case of déjá vu for the Cowgirls — who trailed, 2-1, against Kansas on Friday before claiming a 3-2 victory in OT.

“I wish we’d win in regulation once in a while,” OSU coach Colin Carmichael joked. “Give credit to the girls, they just fought like crazy. They worked their socks off out there. We’ll take any kind of win we can get against those kind of teams.”

Just 13 minutes into Sunday’s contest, Alysha Bonnick put the Tigers on the board with a goal from 10 yards out, and two minutes later, Kristin Andrighetto connected on a shot that gave Mizzou a 2-0 halftime advantage.

The Cowgirls (12-1-1, 3-1-1), who were fighting strong winds in the opening period, came out of the locker room with a more aggressive approach and less than 10 minutes into the half, junior Siera Strawser narrowed the gap to 2-1 with the assist coming from senior Yolanda Odenyo.

Odenyo evened the score in the 71st minute after capitalizing on a solid pass from sophomore Annika Niemeier. It took OSU just under two minutes to score in OT — senior Jessica Jarrell delivered the ball to sophomore Katie Richardson, who then recorded her first Big 12 goal.

“It’s probably one of the most clutch goals I’ve ever hit,” the Broken Arrow native said. “This team has the most heart of any team in the Big 12. At halftime, we knew whoever scored the next goal was going to pretty much decide the outcome of the game. We decided it was going to be us.”

Strawser added, “(Richardson’s goal) was amazing. I don’t even know what else to say about that. Absolutely amazing.”

The Cowgirls, who improved to 8-0-0 at home this season, certainly had a flair for dramatics this weekend. Against the Jayhawks on Friday, Niemeier tied the game at 2-2 with only a minute left in regulation, and junior Kasey Langdon hit the game-winning goal less than three minutes into OT.

“Crazy weekend,” Strawser said. “We never give up and I think that’s been proven this weekend. We don’t care what the score is, we will not give up until the end. These are probably some of the best teams we’ve played and to come out with two wins is really great.”

Sunday capped off a weekend Mizzou fans would like to soon forget. The Tiger football team had its national-championship aspirations crushed after losing, 28-23, to O-State at home on Saturday, and the Lady Tigers (9-4-0, 4-2-0) failed to get a leg up in the Big 12 title race.

Meanwhile, the Cowgirls moved into sole possession of fourth place in the league and continue to put themselves in good position to earn one of 16 national seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

“Colin kept reminding us all week that (the KU and Mizzou) games are huge and they put us back in the mix for a Big 12 championship,” Richardson said. “That’s where we want to be — at the top of the pack.”

O-State visits Baylor at 7 p.m. Friday and will have a showdown with No. 10 Texas at 1 p.m. Sunday in Austin.



Chasing history

Odenyo’s goal on Sunday was the 30th of her career, which puts her in a tie with Adriane Radtke for second on the school’s career list. Jolene Schweitzer set the all-time record of 35 from 2001-04. Odenyo has 26 points this year, which ranks seventh on OSU’s single-season chart.

Robin Rampey is the Cowgirls’ leader in that category — she racked up 35 points in 1996, the program’s first season of existence.

        

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