The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma State
Soccer upsets No. 5 Oklahoma State, 1-0
10.22.2010 | Soccer
Oct. 22, 2010
Box Score | | Highlights
AUSTIN, Texas -- Junior Kylie Doniak scored her fourth goal of the season in the 64th minute to hand the fifth-ranked Oklahoma State Cowgirls their first Big 12 loss of the season and just second overall on the year. The Longhorns also snapped OSU's 13-match unbeaten streak and move to 11-3-3 on the season and 4-2-2 in Big 12 play. The Cowgirls are now 14-2-1, 7-1-0 in league action and were held scoreless for just the third time this season.
Junior Kirsten Birkhold helped get the Longhorns on the board when she sent in a long cross from the left side of the field to the middle of the box. Doniak came streaking in and was able to get her head on the ball just outside the short box to send the ball over OSU keeper Adrianna Franch from about six yards out. Birkhold picked up her third assist while Doniak extended her streak of either scoring or having an assist in a match to four-straight contests.
In a meeting of the league's top two defenses, the match was evenly contested with OSU holding the shot advantage in the first half 9-3 but Texas coming on strong in the second outshooting the Cowgirls 6-1.
Sophomore goalkeeper Alexa Gaul posted her eighth shutout of the season and fifth in league action holding the Cowgirls scoreless for just the third time this season. Gaul also helped the Longhorns extend their home unbeaten streak to 14-straight matches.
The win over the fifth-ranked Cowgirls was Texas' biggest upset at home since a 2-1 win over No. 3 Penn State on Sept. 1, 2006 and its second over a top 10 opponent at Myers this year after beating No. 10 BYU on Sept. 21.
Texas has won its last four matches and will close out the weekend with a home contest against Oklahoma on Sunday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. Central.
POST MATCH NOTES
-Texas' win over No. 5 Oklahoma State is its third win over a ranked opponent this year and second at home.
-Texas' win snapped OSU's 13-match unbeaten streak
-Texas handed Oklahoma State its first Big 12 loss of the season
-The win was the biggest upset at home since a 2-1 win over No. 3 Penn State on Sept. 1, 2006.
-Texas has now won its fourth-straight match and is unbeaten through the last five games (4 wins, 1 tie).
-Texas extends its home unbeaten streak to 14 matches dating back to Oct. 2, 2009.
-Junior Kylie Doniak posted her fourth goal of the season
-Sophomore goalkeeper picked up her league-leading eighth shutout of the year and fifth in conference play
POST MATCH QUOTES
Junior Midfielder Kylie Doniak
On what the team decided to change about its game plan at halftime: I think we were just sticking to pretty much the same game plan¬-getting the ball on the ground, passing it, making them play our game. It helped having the wind in the second half. Our balls in the air were actually getting to our players, and that helped a lot, too.
On the goal she scored: At halftime, I told Birky [Kirsten Birkhold], go down the sideline, you can beat that girl and get those crosses. She always serves perfect crosses, so it's pretty easy to get on the end of her balls. You just have to get a body on it, and it's more likely to go in. It was a good cross.
Junior Defender Lucy Keith
On what the team's keys were going into the game: For this game we really wanted to focus on the plays that went wide on the wing, not letting them cut back middle. We wanted to keep them wide and keep them on one side of the field. Make sure we cover behind the ball, and I think we did a good job of that this game.
On if beating a top ranked team gives the Longhorns confidence: It definitely feels great, but as our coach was saying, we have to come out and win on Sunday. Or else, this doesn't help us too much. We can't get too comfortable with this win, it feels good, but we have to look to the next game.
Head Coach Chris Petrucelli
On the game plan going into tonight's game: We worked a lot on trying to get balls into our front players and playing off of them. We didn't have a lot of success with that in the first half. We tried to get the ball in the second half, we talked about getting them high and getting them behind them a little bit more, and certainly with the wind, we were able to do that a little bit more in the second half. The goal came off of us getting the ball behind them in a wide space and crossing.
On the team's formation: We had to tweak it a little bit at halftime. We brought Kylie [Doniak] back into the midfield to help us win some of those head balls because I felt in the first half they were winning a lot of those balls. But, the good thing is that we're flexible. We can play a couple of different systems. We play two or three different systems during the season, so at any time we can go to something different.
