Cowgirls Soccer Comes Home After Five Road Matches with Numbers in Their Favor
STILLWATER – Cowgirls head coach Colin Carmichael is ready to be off the road and so are his players. The Cowgirls haven’t played a home match since Missouri State back on Aug. 21. Their Bedlam non conference match at home was weathered out with a near full house inside Neal Patterson Stadium. Since then they have reeled off wins ove Tulsa, Stephen F. Austin, and Central Arkansas with a hard earned tie at Florida Atlantic and a 2-1 loss to a stout Miami, Fla. squad. Since being home the Cowgirls have seen senior Grace Yochum become the program’s all-time goal leader with 38. Yochum scored four goals combined in the past two games with Stephen F. Austin (record tying and record setting goals) and then two more at Central Arkansas.
“Over in Conway we made some of the people at the restaurant mad,” Carmichael said. “We wanted to watch the football game (Oklahoma State beating Arizona State). Some of the folks grumbled, but we had a party of 30, so we took advantage of our strength in numbers.”
It seems the Cowgirls have been doing that on the pitch at well. The Cowgirls swtiched formations from their long standing 3-4-3 to a 3-5-2. Basically, they bring up another attacking midfielder. With that formation they have scored eight goals over two matches. For Yochum it is a chance to see the field in front of her and play forward. She is a player with the kind of vision that a good football running back has when seeing a hole develop into a cutback lane for a huge play.
“She is playing a little deeper, which you would think is less chance of scoring, but she is so good at making late runs into the 18 (box) the position probably suits her better,” explained Carmichael. “When she plays the game as a “10” a lot of the game is coming at her to her feet. When she is coming late then the field is in front of her and she seems more comfortable in that role.”
“After the first goal against SFA, I had a feeling that was going to be the game. I was going to get a second goal and break the record,” Yochum said of her big run. “I was feeling good. You know after a good game you just build off that and I think that is what happened against UCA.”
Freshman Gracie Bindbeutel has been an ingredient to this and she’s enjoyed her vantage point. The freshman forward is lightning quick and her runs attract defenders and create openings. Besides, she is learning from being the young one out there with some veteran standouts like Yochum.
“I’m definitely looking up to Liv (Olyvia Dowell). We’re playing up top together and I think we are starting to get that chemistry,” Bindbeutel, from O’Fallon, Mo., said. “I knew Blythe (Beldner) from club soccer and she has taken me under her wing. All of the older girls have helped me and all of the new players. Right when I came (Yochum) was talking to me. Even in the summer, she was asking me if I was okay. She did a good job of guiding me on what to do and helping me when I needed help.”
The Cowgirls have Mercer at home on Thursday (Sept. 15) and then back with No. 25 Brown on Sept. 18. Then next week it is on the road at Kansas and Kansas State before the first Big 12 game at home with Texas Tech on Sept. 29.
The Cowgirls are ranked No. 4 in the region and close to getting into the national poll.
“We are one of those teams right behind TCU (5-2-1) in the Big 12,” Carmichael said. “TCU has played the toughest schedule and I think there are four or five teams in a pack chasing them and we are one of them.”
Good place to be, hungry and ready to be at home and win some matches.