Extra rest important for Cowgirls as NCAA Tournament arrives
STILLWATER — In the moment, Oklahoma State coach Colin Carmichael was crushed when his Cowgirls lost a double-overtime thriller to Kansas in the semifinals of the Big 12 Soccer Tournament last weekend.
With some time to reflect on it, though, Carmichael found the silver lining in his team suffering its second loss in 20 matches.
Third- seeded Oklahoma State (15-2-3) opens the NCAA Tournament against South Dakota State at 7 p.m. Friday at Neal Patterson Stadium. A win buys them another week off, with the second-round game against either Cal or Santa Clara, expected to be Nov. 22.
But if the Cowgirls are going
to make the deep tourney run they hope to, their depth will be tested.
“I was mad that we lost in double-overtime,” Carmichael said of the Kansas match. “But about an hour later, you start thinking big picture, and you think, what would we have had left for Sunday (in the finals)?
“Our kids got the extra rest. Hopefully that'll help us out and we should have a lot of good energy for Friday.”
A recent rash of injuries diminished Carmichael's rotation to a core of 14 players.
“We're not deep,” Carmichael said. “We lost two kids within a 48-hour spell about three weeks ago, and that hurt.
“However, you have to say that the kids who have played have done an amazing job of continuing to win games.”
The Cowgirls have been particularly on point since the calendar turned to October, with eight straight wins before last weekend's tough loss.
“It's been a long season,” senior Julia Lenhardt said. “Playing two games every weekend, it's been tough, but I think we're super-rested right now.”
By grinding through recent victories and reaching the top 10 in the national rankings the Cowgirls solidified a home berth as one of four national No. 3 seeds in the tournament.
And they're 9-0-1 at home this season, boosting the team's confidence, even if the bench is shorter than they might like.
“We have an incredible stadium and gameday atmosphere,” junior Hannah Webb said. “I think that always gives us this little extra 5 percent.
“Not having to travel, we get to stay here, go to class, have our normal routine. I think that can only help us in the end, then we can come out Friday and give it our best shot.”