Pak Sends Sooners to Semis in Final Seconds

Sunday, October 30

Round Rock, Texas

8 PM CT

University of Oklahoma

Texas Tech

Pak Sends Sooners to Semis in Final Seconds

October 30, 2022 | Soccer

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ROUND ROCK, Texas — The sixth-seed Oklahoma soccer team advanced to the semifinals of the Big 12 Soccer Championship with a last-second 1-0 victory over three-seed Texas Tech on Sunday in Round Rock, Texas.

Freshman Michelle Pak scored the only goal of the match with nine seconds remaining to give the Sooners their first win at the Big 12 Soccer Championship since 2016.

"What a win, the timing of it, the emotion of it, with nine seconds to go," said OU head coach Mark Carr. "It was a back-and-forth battle. Credit Texas Tech, they put a lot of balls into our box. I thought we defended really well. I thought we limited their chances and I always knew we would score a goal at some point and to score it with nine seconds to go, the feeling is just emotion.

"Pure emotion and release. Just so proud of these kids and all the work they've put in."

After a back-and-forth defensive battle, Pak was found in the box off a double assist from fellow freshmen Alexis Washington and Hadley Murrell in the 90th minute. After Washington played a ball to Murrell, Murrell executed an exceptional cross to Pak who was able to sneak the ball past the Tech keeper into the bottom left of the goal off her left foot with under 10 seconds to spare. It was Pak's third goal of the season and first since Oct. 6 versus Oklahoma State.

With her ninth assist of the season, Washington set the program record for single-season assists, breaking a record that dated back 17 years (Lauren MacIver, 2005; Krissy Dawson, 2002).

Sunday's match saw only five shots put on frame with the Red Raiders (9-4-6, 5-1-3) narrowly outshooting the Sooners 15-11, but OU won the SOG category with three to Tech's pair.

Eight Sooners took a shot in the match, with Pak, senior Makala Thomas and sophomore Muriel Kroflin being the three that put shots on frame for OU.

In goal, freshman Olivia Ramey went the full 90 and made a pair of saves. The shutout was the freshman's fourth clean sheet in 10 starts on the season, improving her record to 7-2-1.

The win marked OU's first victory over Texas Tech since 2014 and the first OU win in the Big 12 tourney since a 2-0 quarterfinal win over Iowa State in 2016.

The Sooners (9-7-3, 3-5-1) advance to face No. 2 seed TCU on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. CT for a spot in the championship next Sunday. The game can be seen via Big 12 NOW on ESPN+ and tickets are still available on Big12Sports.com/buytickets.

For updates and more information on Oklahoma Soccer, follow the Sooners on Twitter and Instagram (@OU_WSoccer) and like Oklahoma Soccer on Facebook.