Oklahoma Soccer: Big Week as Sooners face two 1st Place Squads !

[OUBeliever56A]

The 6-4-1 Oklahoma Sooners Women's Soccer Team, sitting in a Tie for 4th Place with a 2-0-1 conference record faces a big week as the Sooners face two squads in Big 12 play that are 3-0 in the conference and in first place when the week begins. The Sooners play Texas Tech on Thursday night at 7 PM in Lubbock. On Sunday, the Sooners will host UCF at John Crain Field for a 1 PM match.

The midweek match for the Sooners is in Lubbock against the 9-0-2 Texas Tech Red Raiders who are also 3-0 in the Big 12. Texas Tech hs scored 31 goals in their 11 games as they average 2.82 goals per match. They are impressive on defense as they have only allowed 5 goals in those 11 games. The Red Raiders play 5 players on the defensive line. Those defenders also get in on the scoring as they have scored 4 goals and added 17 assists on offense. I think the Sooners need to be conscious of the defenders moving up into the offensive end and making strong passes into the box. On offense, #37, Ashleigh Williams has scored 12 goals with 34 assists as the main threat on offense. #7, Alex Kerr has also scored 8 goals with 3 assists. One of those defenders, #23 Macy Courtwright, has 9 assists on offense. Texas Tech has had 16 players contribute to goals and assists so far in the season. So the offense for the Red Raiders comes from several directions.

The Red Raiders line up in a 3-3-4 front to back alignment. With Tech pushing the defenders up for assists on the offensive end, the Sooner midfield will have to play well to minimize the Tech defenders being a big part of the match.

The Sooners at 2-0-1 will need to play well in Lubbock to pick up a point or very well to pick up 3 points. Last season in 2022, OU lost 1-2 at home and then won 1-0 against Tech. The win was in the first round of the Big 12 Tourney. Texas Tech could be looking for a bit of revenge for that upset in the Big 12 Tourney last year.

In a continuing trend, the Sooners are doing a great job of creating situations that results in corner kicks for the offense. Alexis Washington and Hadley Murrell are very good at playing the ball on the outside into corners. OU has setup for 84 corners in 2023. That is 7.6 a match. Texas Tech has 54 on the season. Texas has taken 179 shots in 2023. OU has taken 199 shots in 2023.

The difference in the match on Thursday may well be the defense of Texas Tech as they have allowed only 5 goals. OU has allowed 17 goals with 11 of those on the road in 2023. OU has a tendency to have at least one defensive breakdown where the Sooners allow a free running player to take the ball into the box or make a pass to a running player attacking the net. I think Tech will take advantage of those one or two chances and could score an easy goal. It does not look like it will be that easy for the Sooners to score against Tech. I think OU will have to work very hard to score multiple times.

As the substitutes for Oklahoma rotate in, their play will be critical. The weather will still be warm on Thursday and OU is coming off of a very hot day on Sunday with travel after the game and then travel out to Lubbock before the game tomorrow night. I think OU may have to substitute more than normal as they also have to be ready to play on Sunday at home against UCF at 1 PM with a trip back home late on Thursday or Friday morning.

The week could be a tough week for the Sooners as they will likley be the underdog in both matches. One win this week will be a good result for the Sooners. A Tie and a Win would be huge result. Two ties might be just what the doctor ordered. I am confident that the Sooners will play well and give full effort in their two matches. They are playing hard and last week was a good week for them results-wise with two wins. Let's hope for continued good results for the Sooners.

Good luck to the Sooners on Thursday against the Red Raiders.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the Sooners week of play on Thursday and Sunday. As the article mentions, both Texas Tech (14th ranked) and UCF (19th ranked) are Top 20 teams.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/9/27 ... -in-week-7

Both matches will be on ESPN+.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Women's Soccer Team dropped their match to #14 ranked Texas Tech last night 2-0 in Lubbock. The two Texas Tech goals were scored within 30 seconds of each other in the 2nd half. In the 52nd minute, a Red Raider corner kick resulted in the first goal as defensive player, Hannah Anderson heading the ball into the net. Anderson timed her jump much better than the Sooner player, Danielle Wolfe, in front of her and headed the ball past Sierra Giorgia as she did not get her hands up in time to deflect the ball. Thirty seconds later, Cailey England got tied up with a Red Raider in the Texas Tech box to the left of OU's goal. When they both went to the ground as they worked for the ball the whistle blew. A Penalty Kick was awarded to Tech. Macy Blackburn, another defender for Tech, kicked the ball into the left side of the goal past Sierra, who guessed the correct side, for the 2nd goal.

That was more or less the match. The Sooners did start very strongly and controlled the play in the first half. They Sooners pressed the ball forward and had several opportunities to perhaps score, but only once did they come close. Alexis Washington in one of her effective runs that she often has moved the ball to the right side of the goal on the edge of the box. He shot across the goal got pass the Tech GK and struck the goal post bouncing back out into play. It was a nice run and shot by Washington. The Tech GK only had to make one save that was on a free kick by Kroflin that was on goal but did not have a good chance of getting by the GK.

In the second half the match announcers finally mentioned the wind that seemed to be a factor in the match. The wind was at the back of the Sooners in the first half. With the wind in the second half, the Red Raiders controlled the ball and increased their attack.

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the loss in Lubbock.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/9/28 ... in-lubbock

The Sooners put forth a very good effort on Thursday night but did not find the net with the ball. Texas Tech looks good on the field playing. They are tall and skilled and play excellent defense in front of their GK. Tech is a good soccer squad and will win many more matches in the Big 12.

Oklahoma returns home to Norman to play #19 UCF on Sunday in a 1 PM first touch. UCF was defeated by Oklahoma State on Thursday night in Stillwater. UCF is 7-3-0 and is 3-1 in the Big 12. OU is 6-4-1 and is 2-1-1 in the Big 12 play.

Good luck to the Sooners on Sunday.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

In other Big 12 Play on Thursday night, these were the results.

Houston 0 at Iowa State 2 -> I-State is now 1-3 in the Big 12, Houston is 0-4.
UCF 1 at Oklahoma State 2 -> OSU is now 4-0 in the Big 12, USF is 3-1.
West Virginia 0 at Texas 0 TIE -> Both WV and Texas are 1-2-1 in the Big 12.
Baylor 0 at Kansas 0 TIE -> Kansas is now 0-2-2 in the Big 12, Baylor is 0-3-1.
Kansas State 0 at TCU 2 -> TCU is now 3-0-1 in the Big 12, K-State is 0-3-1.
Cincinnati 1 at BYU 1 TIE -> BYU is now 2-0-2 in the Big 12, Cincy is 1-1-2.

The weekend matches are:

Sunday:
UCF at Oklahoma
Texas at Kansas
West Virginia at Houston
Baylor at Kansas State
Cincinnati at Texas Tech
Oklahoma State at TCU

Monday:
BYU at Iowa State