 "Photo: Karl Anderson")
It was a night to remember for seniors on the Texas Tech soccer team.
Unfortunately for Tech, Oklahoma State spoiled the Red Raiders’ senior night Friday at the John Walker Soccer Complex in arguably the most emotional game of the season.
“There was as much intensity in that second half as I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” coach Tom Stone said. “It was off the hook. Certainly both teams brought it.”
Tech (8-7-1, 3-3-1 in Big 12 Conference play) trailed Oklahoma State 1-0 at halftime. However, things began to heat up in the second half as both teams became more physical and emotions heated up.
Oklahoma State’s Katie Richardson received the game’s first yellow card at the 64:47 mark of the game. Less than 10 minutes later, after a second Cowgirl yellow card, Richardson was subbed out by the Cowgirl coaching staff. On the way back to the OSU bench, Richardson said something directed at the Red Raider bench referee Federico Ruiz determined to be a second, and final, yellow card offense.
Consequently, Richardson was given a red card and disqualified from the match.
Immediately following what Richardson said, both benches began to stir while 1,728 fans — a new John Walker Soccer Complex record — rose to their feet offering their thoughts to the officiating crew. Players on the field huddled together, many jumping up and down with emotion.
What Richardson said was not disclosed after the game.
However, it is known Richardson’s slip of the tongue backfired in the worst way possible for the Cowgirls.
Following the opening of play after the altercation, Tech seemed to be running on high emotions — scoring less than a minute later to draw even and sending the standing crowd into a frenzy.
The euphoria was short lived, though.
About seven minutes after the Tech goal, OSU’s Annika Niemeier was fouled just inside the penalty area for an automatic penalty kick. Niemeier scored on the kick, sliding the ball to the right goalpost past Tech goalkeeper Colleen Pitts for her second goal of the game.
From that point, the Cowgirls survived an offensive onslaught from the Red Raiders, and escaped with a 2-1 victory.
With the victory against Tech, the Cowgirls made a big leap in the Big 12 standings wile the Red Raiders slipped into a pack vying for Big 12 Tournament seeding.
With no game scheduled for Sunday, Tech had to track the standings online and hope the right combination of teams won to reduce the consequences of the Oklahoma State loss, which moved the Cowgirls just behind Tech in the standings.
“We don’t scoreboard watch that much,” Stone said. “But we’ll certainly take a look on Sunday night and see where we stand. We’ve said all along there’s work to be done, so we weren’t hanging our hats on the 10 points we knew there was more we need. That has not changed.”
The results on Sunday’s matchups did not fair favorably for the Red Raiders.
As of press time, Tech slipped from fourth in the standings to fifth after Texas won its Friday match with Nebraska.
Wins by Baylor and Nebraska Sunday launched both the Bears and Huskers in front of Tech by a single point.
Tech will finish out the season against Texas and Texas A&M on the road next weekend in addition to a game against Colorado on Oct. 30 — all on the road.
“The (Oklahoma State) loss hit us hard,” midfielder Dawn Ward said. “People were crying because we wanted it so bad. But we all know we’re good enough to go all the way. I hope our (opponents) are scared because we are about to bring it.”
Despite the bitter emotions after the loss, Red Raiders players said they were pleased with the Tech faithful all season long.
“For the last home game, I can’t ask for anything better,” senior defender Jennifer Kammerer said. “Coming from my freshman year to this year, I could have never imagined that I’d have a crowd like this to play in front of.”
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