OSU, OU Battle To Bedlam Draw In Stillwater

The Bedlam Series was not decided Sunday night at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex after 110 minutes of action and two overtime periods, No. 17 Oklahoma State had battled rival Oklahoma to a 1-1 draw in front of 1,781 fans.

The Sooners upended the Cowgirls in Norman on Sept. 1 but the teams played as even as it gets in Stillwater.

With the tie OSU is now 10-3-1 overall and 1-2-1 in the Big 12, while the Sooners moved to 4-6-4 and 0-2-2.

OSU All-American goalie AD Franch recorded a career-high 10 saves in the match, including stopping a penalty kick by Renae Cuellar in the first overtime period, in a contest that saw the Sooners outshoot the Cowgirls by a 23-19 margin.

"Honestly, if either team lost, they would have felt hard done by – I felt it was a really tight game that could have gone either way," said OSU head coach Colin Carmichael, whose squad is now 17-3-3 all time in the Bedlam Series. "It's Bedlam – it's very rarely a pretty game. It's usually a fight and a battle, and both teams got after it."

OSU took the game's initial lead in the 38th minute when freshman Delaney Kiely headed a Taylor Mathews' corner kick into the back of the net for her first-career goal.

OU (4-6-4, 0-2-2) controlled the offensive attack in the opening half, owning an 11-4 advantage in shots, with Franch collecting five saves.

Just over a minute into the second half, the Cowgirls avoided the equalizer when Zoe Dickson's shot was saved off the line by a defender, but the Sooners would convert at the 54:01 mark.

On a free kick, Cuellar sent a short pass to Molly Richey, who sent the ball back to Cuellar for a 20-yard blast that the OU senior delivered to the near post to tie the game at 1-1.

For much of the rest of the half, the Cowgirls were the aggressor offensively. They owned a 13-5 edge on corner kicks in the match, including a 9-0 margin in the second half.

Two of those corners nearly resulted in goals, with Kiely and Michalowski both having headers saved by OU goalie Kelsey Devonshire.

OSU freshman Allie Stephenson also had a pair of good scoring chances in the final half, one of those a 30-yard blast that a leaping Devonshire knocked away and the other a shot that sailed just wide of the goal.

In the first overtime period, the Cowgirls' escaped thanks to Franch, who came up with the huge save of Cuellar's penalty kick at the 96:50 mark after the OU star had been fouled in the box by a defender.

On the PK, Cuellar stepped up and delivered a low shot that Franch had no trouble diving to stop.

Despite not coming up with a victory, OU coach Matt Potter said he was impressed with everything about the contest.

"My first thought is what a great rivalry environment and game for those watching," Potter said. "I have the utmost respect for Colin, his staff and squad. Tonight speaks to the team we know we can be. Disciplined to the game plan, committed to each other and rewarded in the way we played. We now need to capitalize on this night going forward. To come to Stillwater and get a result in the manner we did against a quality Oklahoma State team, I couldn't be prouder of our group."

OSU next travels to Austin, Texas, Friday night to take on Texas as they try and reach the .500 mark in conference play.

OU stays on the road with a nonconference game against Virginia Tech on Sunday.