North Texas Daily

Soccer’s four-game win streak came to an end Thursday night as the University of Oklahoma defeated the team 3-2. 

Shots on the night were close to even with Oklahoma (1-2-1) edging out North Texas (5-1) 16 to 15. A physical contest, the game saw a penalty kick and five yellow cards — two of which were given to Mean Green players. 

“I feel like we held our own — we’re a physical team,” sophomore midfielder Devyn Flannery said. “When teams [are physical] with us, we like to give it right back to them — I think that we had a lot of calls not go our way.”

The Sooners took the early advantage on a penalty kick following a challenge from senior defender Victoria Altieri. Sophomore Oklahoma forward Leonie Weber took the spot and slotted the ball past freshman goalkeeper Dani Jacobson’s right side to take the lead. 

Thirty seconds after Weber’s goal, senior forward Madison Drenowatz scored to level the match. A 50-50 challenge in the air landed at her feet about six yards in front of the goal which allowed her to score.

Redshirt sophomore forward Bri Amos and freshman forward Alexis Washington connected on a one-two on the left side that North Texas’ defense could not defend to break the tie. With a hard shot, Amos — the Sooners’ leading scorer in 2021 — gave Oklahoma the advantage. The score remained 2-1 at halftime. 

Coming out of the half, senior forward Emma Hawkins broke through for Oklahoma after attacking on goal for 18 minutes. On a high cross, the senior completed an overhead kick to extend the Sooner lead to two. 

Drenowatz found the net two minutes later to cut the deficit back down to one and complete a brace. It was her second goal that came less than two minutes after an opposing score.

“We want to respond as quickly as possible,” Drenowatz said. “We obviously don’t want to get the same result we had tonight again, so hopefully we can take what we learn from this game and move on.”

For the remaining 25 minutes, Oklahoma was able to hold the Mean Green to complete a 3-2 victory and hand North Texas its first loss of the season. It was the Sooners’ first win of the season. 

After a matchup with Texas State University on Sunday night, the Mean Green face another Big 12 Conference opponent in Texas Tech University on Sept. 11.

Two days later, North Texas travels to Dallas to play rival no. 15 Southern Methodist University. North Texas is 1-2-0 in its last three matchups with Southern Methodist. 

Flannery said that facing Oklahoma before the schedule heats up was a good experience for the team. 

“We have played teams that aren’t really on our level and so playing a Big 12 school gave us a run for our money,” Flannery said. “We have [Texas] Tech and SMU next week, so it was good to face this team.” 

Following its game with the Red Raiders, North Texas will move on to conference play versus the University of North Carolina–Charlotte. With the team’s schedule increasing in difficulty, Drenowatz said that the stretch will prepare the Mean Green for Conference USA play. 

“There’s a lot of Conference USA teams that are in the regional rankings right now,” Drenowatz said. “Facing these power five schools really gets you ready to face those tough games.”

Image source: Mean Green Sports