Siera Strawser, a junior from Bixby, led the team with eight goals in 2007. Strawser played in 20 games a year ago, starting 17. Including Strawser, the Cowgirls return their three leading scorers. Oklahoma State opens its season against SMU in Dallas on Saturday at 7 p.m.
The Cowgirls are looking forward to their first regular season game against Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
The team has already boarded the momentum train after beating TCU 3-1 in an exhibition last Saturday.
Oklahoma State, ranked 23rd, is looking to continue building momentum throughout the year into another postseason where it tasted success in the 2006 and 2007.
The team has a strong recruiting class consisting of 11 freshmen, and is led by nine returning starters including two-time All-American senior midfielder Yolanda Odenyo.
Odenyo was named to the Missouri Athletic Club Women’s Hermann Trophy Award Watch List for the second straight season Monday. It is the highest individual honor in intercollegiate soccer.
Decorated with numerous honors and awards, the humble senior never lets the pressure of high expectations get in the way of performing her best.
“I don’t think anyone puts more pressure on me than myself,” Odenyo said. “I see that as a good thing. Every time I step on the field I know people are watching me and it makes me raise my game.”
The younger players often look to Odenyo for advice and guidance. Freshman Kyndall Treadwell, who scored against TCU, said Odenyo helps the team on and off the field, leading by example.
“Yo is a good motivator and she pretty much helps me out on the field when I’m lost,” Treadwell said. “She’s kind of like a coach.”
Among other leaders on the team is senior goalkeeper Erin Stigler, who set the OSU record with her 15th career shutout at the Big 12 Championship against Kansas.
Returning to help defend the goal is a trio of starting defenders who helped record 10 shutouts and allowed only 20 goals in 2007. Jessica Jarrell, Bridget Miller and Allyson Leggett are helping lead the incoming freshmen defenders Elizabeth DeLozier, Melinda Mercado and Colleen Dougherty.
Senior Jamie Markaverich and sophomore Annika Niemeier, who scored a goal at TCU, are joining Odenyo at midfield and helping lead freshmen Krista Lopez and Sarah Brown.
Allyson Farrell was another freshman expected to contribute at the midfield position, but will be forced to redshirt this season due to an ACL tear.
The starting forwards are juniors Kasey Langdon, who recorded nine assists and five goals last season, and Siera Strawser, an all-region performer who led the team with eight goals in 2007.
Junior Leah Hope and sophomore Katie Richardson are also looking forward to sharing time at forward.
The freshmen forwards look to be a talented pair with Treadwell and Mary Pat Hardin learning from the gifted upperclassmen. Hardin has been “a little banged up,” but coach Colin Carmichael said he expects her to be 100 percent in two or three weeks.
The 2008 season looks promising with the talented depth the team has but, as Carmichael pointed out, it has a tough schedule including not only the Big 12, but also Louisville, Loyola Marymount, McNeese State, Oral Roberts, Oregon and Xavier.
“In the Big 12, those teams are very good obviously, but everybody is good,” Carmichael said. “Once you get to October you know every game is going to be a battle.
“To the returning players, it’s nothing new. They’re used to it. It’s the newcomers that you have to watch because the games are very difficult, and you have to recover in between the games correctly so the body doesn’t break down. We’ll prepare as we always do, but we do have an understanding that in October things do get a little hectic for us.”
Currently the Cowgirls are focusing on SMU, whom they beat 2-0 in 2007, and the Cowgirls are anxious to show their real potential after getting some needed rest.
“We were happy to get a win at the TCU game, but we came off of ten days of three-a-days so we had tired legs,” Odenyo said. “I don’t think we reached our capacity in terms of how we played.
“We won the game, but I think we can up our game three or four levels. I’m excited to go in and play a game with fresh legs.”
SMU’s coach, Brent Erwin, is beginning his second season with the Mustangs and is expected to perform better this year.
The Mustangs host OSU at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
“They’re traditionally a very strong team,” Carmichael said. “We expect it to be a tough game. It’s their home opener. They beat Baylor in an exhibition game 1-0, which shows they beat a quality team on the road so it will be a good test for us.
“Last year they had a new coach and I think he was kind of in the process of installing his mentality and what he wants from his players. So he’s had a year now to bring in some of his own kids so I expect them to be a different group we play against.”
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