Kelly Leads OU Past Missouri State

NORMAN, Okla. -- Senior Kady Kelly scored her eighth goal of the year and junior Jennifer Nichols recorded her seventh shutout of the season as the Oklahoma soccer team defeated Missouri State, 1-0, on Thursday at John Crain Field.

The game marked the regular-season finale for the Sooners who finished with an 8-10-1 overall record and 3-6-1 mark in Big 12 play, while Missouri State fell to 9-8-2.

Both Kelly and Nichols reached yet another milestone in their Sooner careers on Thursday night. Nichols tied her own single-season record with the shutout and for Kelly, her eighth goal is the third highest season total in Sooner history (tied with three others). Only two other Sooners, Logan Womack (13 in 2001) and Krissy Dawson (9 in 2002), have scored more goals in a single season than Kelly.

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The Round Rock, Texas, native scored Thursday's game-winning goal, the fourth of her career, in the 19th minute off the assist from junior Lauren Harris (fourth of the season), who delivered the pass from the Sooners' half of the field. The Sooners are 5-1-1 when Kelly, the team's leading scorer, finds the back of the net this season. Kelly finished the game with three shots behind junior Audri Habibi (4) and senior Savannah Scott (5).

“We really wanted to work on possessing the ball and being more patient with our attack tonight in preparation for the Big 12 Championships,” said OU head coach Randy Evans. “I think we accomplished those things and put together our best effort of the season in the second half and this win should give us some momentum for next week.

“Tonight was another classic example of us creating plenty of opportunities and not being able to capitalize off of them, something we have struggled with all year. That is obviously something that has to improve in the postseason.”

The Sooners and Bears finished the 90-minute contest with 16 shots apiece and OU held a slight advantage in corner kicks with a 4-3 edge.

Nichols made six saves en route to her 14th career shutout while her counterpart, Jackie Jasper, made five saves in the loss.

Despite tallying the one goal, OU's offense continues to strive in the second half of the season. The Sooners, who are 5-2-1 in the last eight games, have scored 18 of the team's 29 goals in that span and Kelly has five of those tallies.

Oklahoma now has five days to prepare for its first round game in the Big 12 Championship, but will not know its opponent until Friday night. The Sooners can finish as high as seventh in the conference and face Oklahoma State in the first round on Nov. 1 at 5:30 p.m. if Baylor loses or ties at Texas Tech on Friday. Should the Bears find a victory in Lubbock, the Sooners will claim the eighth seed and face Texas A&M in the first game of the day (11 a.m.).

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