(Oklahoma State Athletic Media Relations contributed to this story.)
STILLWATER – In a very physical early season non conference soccer match that felt like a top of the standings late season conference match-up, Oklahoma State drew a 1-1 tie with Nebraska Thursday (Aug. 21) night at Neal Patterson Stadium. How physical? There were 18 fouls and Oklahoma State led the way with 11-to-Nebraska’s-7. Beyond that there was a lot of aggressive defense that included shirt tugging and just body on body marking throughout the match. With the result, the Cowgirls moved to 1-1-1 on the early season, while the Cornhuskers sit at 1-0-2.
Oklahoma State was forced to come back to grad the tie as Nebraska scored first, but that was lates in the match. Cowgirls head coach Colin Carmichael had substituted his top two offensive players in Gracie Bindbeutel and Xcaret Pineda midway through the second half to give them some extra energy late in the match.
They did just that as Bindbeutel got deep on a penetration, as she did often in the match, and this time drew a foul in the box as a Nebraska player tried to trip her. That set up Pineda for a penalty kick that she buried in the top right corner of the net, evening the score at the 83:09 mark.
Xcaret Pineda’s lone goal for the Cowgirls gave the senior midfielder a goal in each of OSU's first three contests this season.
OSU's offensive attack picked up after the break dominating the first 15 minutes of he second half. It was Nebraska getting on the board first. In the 80th minute, Kayma Carpenter delivered a cross through the box that Carson Bohonek was able to flick off Marks' hand to the near post, and the visitors took a 1-0 lead.
The Cowgirls were outshot in the match, 15-14, and NU also held a 7-4 advantage in corner kicks.
OSU goalkeeper Logan Marks made six saves against Cornhusker shots, matching her career best
The first half ended scoreless, in large part due to Marks' five first-half saves. In total, the Huskers got off seven shots, while the Cowgirls only managed two shots in the first 45 minutes.
Over the final seven minutes, both teams had chances to go ahead, with Nebraska recording four shots and OSU tallying three. The Cowgirls would outshoot the visitors by a 12-8 margin in the final half while also owning the edge in second-half corner kicks, 4-2.
The Cowgirls return to action Sunday at 1 p.m. when they take on Arkansas State on Senior Day at Neal Patterson Stadium.
