Oklahoma Soccer Returns Home to Host 1st Match for 2023 - Tulsa

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooner Women's Soccer Team returns to John Crain Field for a Thursday night match against Tulsa to open the regular season in 2023. The match will be televised on ESPN+.

The Sooners are coming off of two exhibition losses to Baylor and Nebraska by a combined score of 5-2. New Coach Matt Mott is working to get his mix of returning players and new transfers and freshman to jell into a team in the first two exhibition matches.

The match against Tulsa is a returning match from 2022 when the Sooners won over Tulsa 1-0 in Tulsa. Freshman Morganne Eikelbarner had the game winning goal for OU as she tallied her first goal of her career at OU.

In the first two exhibition matches, the Sooners have had trouble handling outside speed against them on defense, and had a bit of trouble defending in the box in front of the goal. They have also had trouble getting the ball inside the offensive box to forwards for good scoring opportunities. They did play a bit better in the second match in the midfield area of the field.

Oklahoma had a 9-8-3 record in 2022 and a 3-5-1 record in the Big 12 Conference. The Sooners picked up a strong win in the Big 12 Tourney over Texas Tech in a 1-0 shutout before losing to TCU 3-0 to end their season.

In 2022 Tulsa ended with a 7-7-3 record and a 2-4-2 record in conference.

Good luck to the Sooners on Thursday.

Boomer Sooner!

[OU Guy]

Wow, is the new coach that good? Dang thats a blowout

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the staff writers article about the lopsided win over Tulsa, 6-0.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/8/17 ... -hat-trick

To say that Emma Hawkins had a big night for the Sooners would be an understatement. She set and tied program records with her performance. Her three goals tied a program record and her 7 points ( 3 goals, 1 assist) set a new Sooner records for points in a game. Hawkins played very well. She always hustles and tries to force the action in the offensive end. Last night she made the most of 3 attempts and scored each time.

Washington, D Wolfe, Kroflin and Weber all had 2 pts with Washington and D Wolfe picking up two assists and Kroflin and Weber picking up goals.

The Sooners opened the scoring in the 17th minute when Alexis Washington made a good run down the right side of the right side against pressure and sent a nice pass into the box. Hawkins took a step away from the goal to lead from a defender and took the pass with a touch than she managed to put away for a 1-0 lead across the goal. It was good ball handling by Hawkins.

A minute late, the play was similar. Washington again, deep on the right side sent a pass into the box on the the right side of the goal where Hawkins was facing two defenders. Hawkins extended her left foot to reach the pass and deflected the ball past a defender and the goalie on the near side of the goal. Excellent goal.

In the 31st minute, Keller Matise passed the ball out to the left side to Morganne Eikelbarner. Eikelbarner carried the ball on the edge of the box without pressure and made a nice pass across the goal to Muriel Kroflin who re-directed the ball with one solid kick into the goal. OU took a 3-0 lead into halftime.

Within 30 seconds of the second half, the Sooners added the 4th goal of the game on a nice cross into the box from Danielle Wolfe from the corner. On the near side of the goal, Hawkins got a foot on the ball to deflect it across the goal to a waiting Leone Weber who quickly put the ball into the goal. Wolfe made a good run down the right side to be able to make the pass into the box.

Five minutes late, Hadley Murrell pass. ed the ball outside on the left side to Danielle Wolfe who carried the ball down the left edge of the box. Passing up on a decent shot, Wolfe centered the ball high to Hawkins on the right side of the goal, Hawkins smartly headed the ball into the right side of the goal for her 3rd of the game and a 5-0 lead for the Sooners.

In the 85th minute, Eikelbarner got on the board with a goal as Weber lifted a free kick from near midfield deep into the box. After a scrum for the ball, Eikelbarner stepped around a Tulsa defender to get to the loose ball and quickly deposited the ball into the goal for OU's 6th score of the game. It was a hustle goal by Eikelbarner.

OU dominated the play last night as the Sooners probably controlled the ball for over 55 minutes of the game, maybe more. I could not find that stat this morning though. I thought the Sooners played very well and honestly, above my expectations after the first two exhibitions. I thought the defensive back, (England, Stevens and Andi Wolfe) played very well in front of the two goalkeepers Ramey and Giorgio. Both GK's had two saves in the game for OU. Ramey left the game in the 2nd half when she was injured securing a ball away from the goal on a dive catch of the ball to prevent a shot. I do not think she was injured seriously, but with the lead, she was removed for caution. Giorgio finished strong for OU. OU did a much better job preventing and controlling offensive runs on the outside in their defensive end of the field.

I also thought the midfield players also played very well as they controlled the ball well and prevented Tulsa moving the ball into their offensive end. Michelle Pak, Weber and Kroflin played well with help from Parkhurst and Matise.

I thought several subs played well also. Clifton, Wagner, Eikelbarner and Hadley played well in relief. The Soones played 21 players in the match. One player made her debut for the Sooners last night. Leane Commarent, JR, from France played in the midfield during the last 10 minutes after missing both preseason matches.

The 6-0 win was a good way for the Sooners to start the Matt Mott era for OU Women's Soccer. But, I have to say that Tulsa is not a strong team. OU was physically a better team with size and speed over Tulsa. But OU did not play down to the competition and played their game well. OU looked much better in this game than they did in exhibitions earlier. Some of that was their opponent but most of it was how their play improved. The Sooners also looked much better last night than they did early in the season in 2022.

The Sooners host Oral Roberts on Sunday at 7 PM at John Crain Field. Oral Roberts won al three of the exhibition matches last week as they defeated Seminole State 5-0, John Brown on the road 2-1 and USAO 2-0. The played Texas A&M-Commerce last night in their season opener and tied 2-2 with all the goals scored in the first half. ORU was 10-9-3 in 2022. OU defeated ORU in 2022 5-2 in Tulsa.

Congrats to the Sooners on their strong win last night 6-0. The weather was not bad at all with the breeze that helped with the heat.

Boomer Sooner!