The Daily O’Collegian

It may be preseason, but the Cowgirl soccer team is ready to tear the Big 12 apart.

In a scrimmage Wednesday afternoon, the Orange team recorded a solid victory over the White team.

“They weren’t even, but they weren’t first team and second team,” Cowgirl head coach Colin Carmichael said. “What we did was look at a possible starting group for the TCU game.”

The Orange team was certainly stronger.

The Orange team, including co-captains and seniors Yolanda Odenyo and Niccole Grimaldi, was composed mainly of first choice players.

Some players, notably co-captain and senior Adrian Radtke, were placed on the White team to evaluate fitness.

“We’ve got a couple kids who might not play this weekend, they are a little banged up, so we want to make sure they are 100 percent,” said Carmichael.

Concerning the overall fitness of the team, Carmichael was optimistic.

“It’s about 100 degrees out there, and we played an 80 minute game with a ten minute halftime, and I think our fitness held up pretty well,” Carmichael said.

“We will keep pushing it to get it to where it needs to be, but right now, we are pretty happy.”

Carmichael said the team will learn more, once the season starts.

“We will know more about ourselves on Saturday, when we get to play against other people,” Carmichael said regarding the upcoming scrimmage against TCU.

“If you play against a weaker defense, you are probably going to score more goals, so when we play against somebody else, we will use that as a time to say where we are.”

In midfield, the Orange team used the central pair of Odenyo and Annika Neimeier, with Odenyo playing slightly behind Neimeier.

Odenyo, the first Cowgirl to be named a First Team All-American, provided a solid defensive shield in front of the back line, while also finding time to make her impact on the attacking side of the field.

Niemeier, who spent the majority of last season on the bench due to a torn ACL, was optimistic about the season ahead.

“I want to get into the starting eleven, and score a lot of goals,” Niemeier said of her personal goals for this coming season.

Niemeier, a native of Germany, was also a member of the Under-20 German national team that won the World Championship in 2004.

Niemeier hopes she can see similar success during her first full season at OSU.

“I want to win the Big 12, and go as far as possible in the NCAA tournament,” she said.

Of her partnership with Odenyo in the middle of the field, Niemeier said she was happy to be playing with the All-American.

“If you are playing in front of her, she is always behind you, so if you lose the ball, there is Yolanda,” Neimeier said. “You play with more confidence.”

Leah Hope, a sophomore forward who had an encouraging freshmen season substituting for former Cowgirl Jesyca Rosholt, explained what Rosholt had left her with.

“(Rosholt) was a really good forward and she had a really good work ethic, so I hope to keep that going,” Hope said.

Hope said she has been putting a large amount of effort into this season, starting with this weekend’s scrimmage at TCU

“I am working a lot harder this year, I stayed over the summer, tried to get my fitness up, so hopefully I will get a lot more playing time,” Hope said.