Sooner Soccer: 2 Home Matches this Week: Stetson and Missouri St

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners will host two matches this week at John Crain Field. The 3-1 Sooners will host Stetson (3-1) on Thursday at 7 PM. On Sunday the Sooners will finish their week with a match against Missouri State (2-2-1) at 1 PM at John Crain Field. Both matches are on SEC+/ESPN+ this week. But, the weather should be nice this week at John Crain Field for the soccer fans that come out to support the team.

Here is the pre-match article about the match with the Stetson "Hatters" written by the OU Athletics Communications group.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/9/4/ ... -to-norman

Stetson was not a very good soccer team in 2023 as they were 3-12-3. But so far in 2024, Stetson is off to a 3-1 start with wins over Gardner-Webb 2-1, Alabama A&M 3-0, and FIU 1-0. They lost to Wofford 0-1. The Sooners have also defeated FIU this season 2-1.

Stetson has scored 6 goals and allowed 2. For Stetson, the leading scorer is Alexander #22 who has scored 3 goals and 1 assist. Comma #2 and Overstreet #27 have 2 assists to lead Stetson. Everyone who has scored or tallied an assist for Stetson are new players except for Overstreet. Wise #00 has been in goal all four games in 2024 and allowed 2 goals with 23 saves.

In the Sunday match against Missouri State, the 2-2-1 Bears have wins over Tulsa 1-0, Central Arkansas 3-0, a tie against SIUE 0-0 and two losses to Missouri 0-2 and #19 Saint Louis 0-4. In 2023, Missouri State was 12-2-5. From that team, the Bears have lost 15 goals and 15 assists of production of the 30 goals and 35 assists in total. It looks like the offense is not as strong in 2024 with only 4 goals scored. Benedict, #2, scored 3 goals and had 3 assist in 2023. In 2024, Kristensen, #18 has scored 2 goals and had 1 assist with Benedict adding 3 goals for the Bears.

The Sooners will be celebrating their Seniors this week as eleven (11) graduating student-athletes will be recognized in a ceremony prior to both Thursday and Sunday's matches.

The Sooners have played well so far in 2024 as they have only lost to the #13 OSU Cowgirls in Stillwater by the score of 0-1. The Sooners have played strong defense with Duffy in Goal and a back line of King, England, Wolfe and Clifton. The Sooners have controlled the mid-field with Washington, Johnson, Murrell, Pappas, Pak and Rayo playing well. The Forwards, Weber, Green, McNulty, Eikelbarner and O'Connor are generating shots but could finish better at times.

If the Sooners play well this week and are able to put a few more shots in the goal, the Sooners will likely win both matches this week.

Good luck to the Sooners in their play this week.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Sooners Score Early and often as they win 7-0 over Stetson on Tuesday night

Coach Mott and the Sooners soccer players must have had great practices and some rest during their week off last week as they were more than ready for the Stetson Hatters on Thursday night at John Crain Field. Stetson did control the flow of the game early in the game with a couple shots, one where Sooner GK Duffy made a nice save on the shot. But the pitch tarted tilting strongly towards the Sooners goal as they dominated the play in the midfield and kept the ball in their offensive end most of the game after that. the Sooners played 23 players last night with only one playing less than 17 minutes. It it was an excellent performance by the Sooners.

With a common opponent, FIU, the Sooners and the Hatters both defeated FIU by one goal. OU won 2-1 and Stetson won 1-0. With that as a marker, OU must have played very well last night or Stetson was not on their game after their trip from north of Orlando, FL to travel to Norman.

Here is the post-match article by the OU Athletics Communications group:

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/9/5/ ... tetson-7-0

This phrase from the article was important I thought, "Oklahoma's five first-half goals were its most since the attack scored seven in the opening half vs. UTSA on Sept. 6, 2015. Its 30 shots marked the most OU has produced since registering 46 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Aug. 24, 2023."

As I have been looking at most of the SEC Soccer results and the box scores, I have noticed that many of the SEC team routinely record 25+ shots with double-digit shots on goal. Before last night, the Sooners had averaged just over 15 shots a game and just under 7 shots on goal a match. Last night they had 20 shots and 11 shots on goal. I think the Sooners need to be able to do that often during SEC play just to keep the ball out of their defensive end of the pitch.

Sophia Green put the Sooners on the board in the 5th minute with a nice one-touch goal on an elevated pass from Cassie Clifton (assist). Green has now scored goals in consecutive games. Alexis Washington picked up a hustle goal in the 20th minute after a free kick by Green that deftly cleared the "wall for Stetson", bounced off the GK and the crossbar. Washington hustled to the goal following the shot and bumped the ball into the net passed a defender and the GK. Seven minutes later, Washington raced past a Stetson defender tot he right of the goal, moved down the endline and kicked the ball hard at the GK. Hadley Murrell got credit for an assist to Washington earlier on the play. The shot bounded off the GK outside arm and into the goal for her second score. Suddenly, Washington has scored 3 goals in the last two matches after not scoring in her first two season while providing a bundle of assist for other Sooners. the next three goals were sharpshooter goals away from the goal. Morganne Eikelbarner scored in the 31st minute on a nice move to leave a defender behind her and beat the GK one-on-one from distance for her 2nd goal of the season. Michelle Pak followed just before half with a nice goal after splitting defenders with nice ball control to score from distance. It was Pak's first goal of the season. Ella Pappas curled a beautiful shot to the far corner just under the crossbar from distance tot he left of the goal 45 minutes in the 2nd half. Again, it was her 1st goal of the season. Ella Lewis,, a freshman, then made a nice play with a left foot on a bouncing ball in the 71st minute as she lofted a ball over the GK and under the crossbar for the Sooners 7th goal and her first career goal as a Sooner.

Leonie Weber and Abigail McNulty left the pitch in the 1st half after they went down during play. Both returned in the second half to play, which is a very good sign.

Sierra Giorgio, Sooner GK, played for the first time this season in goal during the second half and secured the match shutout after Duffy played the first half. Several non-starting Sooners played more minutes than they had this season as all the starters got a break during the match.

Cailey England actually took an 8 minute break from playing last night in the second half. She had played 90 minutes in 17 straight matches for the Sooners dating back to early in the 2023 season. It is funny to think she "got a night off" as she played 'only' 82 minutes for the Sooners last night.

The Sooners will be back at John Crain Field on Sunday afternoon in a match with Missouri State at 1 PM. The weather looks to be in the low 80's for the 1 PM first touch.

The Sooners played very well on Thursday night.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

[OUBeliever56A]

The 4-1 Oklahoma Sooners Women's Soccer squad host Missouri State today in a 1 PM first touch match at John Crain Field. The weather should be wonderful for an afternoon in the sunshine and lower temps today. The Sooner offense has kicked in as they have scored 11 goals in the last two matches. Oklahoma has outscored their opponents 14-3 so far this season.

Missouri State has a 2-2-2 record this season while scoring 4 goals and allowing 6 goals. The Bears of Missouri State have recorded 4 shutouts so far this season. But they also have only score din 2 matches. Both of their ties were scoreless matches. The Sooners back line defenders will have to be conscious of Benedict #2 and Kristensen #18 on offense.

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about today's match with Missouri State.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/9/7/ ... ate-sunday

I am very encouraged by the play of the Sooners in every area of the pitch. the competition has not been that good, but the Sooners are not just wining that are beginning to dominate their matches. Eight (8) Sooners have scored a goal with Leonie Weber and Alexis Washington leading with 3 goals each. Sophia Green and Morganne Eikelbarner have scored 2 goals each. Again eight (8) Sooners have recorded assists with Hadley Murrell leading with 3 and Weber having 2.

The back row defenders of Meredith King, Cailey England, Andie Wolfe and Cassie Clifton have played very well in front of Caroline Duffy at GK this season. They have been instrumental in keeping the opponent offense from generating scoring opportunities.

The mid-field players lead by Nevaeh Johnson, Hadley Murrell, Michelle Pak and Juliette Rayo have controlled the ball and consistently kept the ball in the Sooner offensive end of the pitch all season. Alexis Washington and Ella Pappas have ran the outside of the pitch on both sides and led the effort on the attack from the outside. On the forward end of the field, Leonie Weber, Sophia Green, Abigail McNulty and Morganne Eikelbarner have kept pressure on the opponents defensive end and started to score in bunches the last two matches. Weber has been very good on free and corner kicks this season.

The Sooners have a shot to be 7-1 in their pre-SEC conference play and take a bit of momentum into the SEC schedule in eleven days.

Good luck today to the Sooners.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

[AustinTXSooner]

We scored 2 goals early in the first half and then scored 6 goals in the second half. Ella Pappas had 3 goals and Juliette Rayo had 2 goals, her first career goals. Weber had 3 assists.

Despite the score, I thought Missouri State's goalie was pretty good.

Our first goal was about 2 minutes into the game and was made by Sophia Green with an assist from Alexis Washington. The second goal was from a direct kick just outside of the box from Leonie Weber that bounced off the crossbar and Ella Pappas was there to clean it up.

Cailey England only played 38 minutes. She took a chin to the temple and was held out for the rest of the game. I think it was Green that hit her.

There were 2 yellow cards issued. One to Nevaeh Johnson of OU and the other to Julia Kristensen of Missouri St.

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners had a week at John Crain Field. After defeated Stetson 7-0 on Thursday, the Sooners scored 8 goals against Missouri State on Sunday with two goals in the first half and 6 goals in the second half. The 8 goals was the sixth-time in history that the Sooners scored their most-goals in a match.

Ella Pappas recorded a hat trick on the day with three consecutive goals for the Sooners 2nd, 3rd and 4th goals in the match. She also added an assist later in the game (this assist might have been by Green actually) to be credited with 7-points in the match to tie Emma Hawkins for the most in Sooner history. Juliette Rayo also scored two goals (her first goals of her career) in the second half, both from long distance. Sophia Green, Murrell Hadley and Morganne Eikelbarner scored the other three goals for the Sooners. Green has now scored in 3-straight matches. Hadley scored for the first time this season and Eikelbarner now has three goals this season. Weber picked up 3 assists in the match to tie a Sooner record. Alexis Washington picked up another assist on the Green goal to move within 2 assists of the all-time Sooner record.

The Sooners recorded 29 shots with 21 shots on goal. The Sooners dominated the possession of the ball and kept pressure on the Missouri State defenders for probably 60 or more minutes of the match. The Bears really only had one strong shot on goal and Sooner Caroline Duffy smothered the shot on the left side of the goal. Duffy had two other saves on goal kicks as she took control and snagged the ball out of the air on the kicks.

Here is the post-match article about the win by the Sooners by the OU Athletics Communications group.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/9/8/ ... -bears-8-0

The Sooners are playing very well at this time. The speed on the outside by Washington and Pappas as they move around the edges of the pitch and the control of the ball in the midfield is entertaining to watch. The Sooners would have had a ninth goal if not for a superb save by the Missouri State GK. On the play, Washington made a very nice move around a defender, maybe two defenders, on the right side and feed the ball in front of the net to a Sooner (I think it was McNulty) who kicked the ball out of the air towards the left side of the goal. With a leap the MSU GK got a hand on the shot and deflected it wide of the goal.

The only concern from the match is the status of Cailey England. In the first half, 39 minutes in. England was airborne and collided heads with another Sooners on a corner kick. England came down and was immediately bleeding from her forehead I think. She did not return in the match and I am not sure she was on the sideline during the second half but I might have missed her. I would guess she might have needed stitches and perhaps suffered a concussion on the play. England only played 39 minutes in the match. It was fewest minutes played by England in her career if I checked things out correctly.

Up next is UL-Monroe next Thursday at 7 PM. The Warhawks of UL-Monroe are 6-1 on the season and had won 6 in a row before they lost to Oklahoma State on Sunday in Stillwater, 6-0. In their six wins the Warhawks have outscored their opponents 19-0.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

The hat trick scored by Ella Pappas!