Oklahoma Soccer has historic night in 8-1 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Oklahoma got a pair of goals from Dani Wolfe and Hadley Murrell on their way to a record-tying 8-1 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

The good times continued to roll at John Crain Field on Thursday night for Oklahoma Sooners Soccer. They continued their electric start to the season with an 8-1 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

The eight goals tied a school record for goals in a game, which has been done four times in program history. The last time was in a win over UTSA back in September of 2015.

But it wasn’t without a little early drama.

UAPB got the scoring going in the first five minutes of the game when Amiya Callicut scored on a long free kick that just went over the outstretched hand of goalkeeper [autotag]Olivia Ramey[/autotag].

Oklahoma allowed only one shot on goal for the remainder of the game.

It was all Sooners from the 4:22 mark of the game. [autotag]Dani Wolfe[/autotag] took control with a pair of goals eight minutes apart on a couple of beautiful touches at the top of the box. Sister [autotag]Andi Wolfe[/autotag] got in on the action to make it 3-1 with a goal 22 minutes into the game.

[autotag]Morganne Ekelbarner[/autotag] scored to make it 4-1 under four minutes later, and if it wasn’t clear by then, the Sooners were in complete control of the game.

In the second half, it was all Sooners again. Their relentless pressure on the ball kept Arkansas-Pine Bluff from getting comfortable in possession. Not satisfied with the 4-1 lead, Oklahoma kept up their offensive attack.

[autotag]Hadley Murrell[/autotag] scored two goals in 30 seconds around the 60-minute mark, and [autotag]Keller Matise[/autotag] notched her first goal of the season to make it 7-1. Closing the scoring was [autotag]Marianne Baltmanis[/autotag], who buried a penalty kick for her first goal as a Sooners to give Oklahoma the 8-1 lead.

Leading scorer Emma Hawkins was kept out of the net for the first time this season. However, she was incredibly active all night. She finished with an assist on a beautiful backheel touch and had seven shots on goal in the win.

“We played really well,” head coach Matt Mott said after the win. “We continued to attack the whole game. That’s what we talked about before the game. To go at them, go at them and use that pressure, then we turned them over, and we got some good goals.”

That attacking pace was relentless from the Sooners. Though they surrendered the opening score, they quickly tilted the pitch in their favor and kept the pressure on the Golden Lions.

The Sooners have now scored 18 goals in their first three games of the season. Those 18 goals are the most in program history through three games according to SoonerSports.com. They’re outscoring opponents 18-3 on the season.

As impressive as the offensive outburst was, the defensive showing was equally impressive. Coming into the match, Arkansas-Pine Bluff had scored 16 goals in their first two contests. Despite the early goal, the Oklahoma Sooners’ defense was sound throughout, rarely allowing anything threatening in their end of the field.

The Sooners now go on the road to take on Samford (1-1-1). The Bulldogs are coming off a pair of impressive performances. They beat Jacksonville State 6-0 on Thursday night and picked up a 0-0 tie in their season opener against Auburn a week ago.

The Sooners will play Samford Sunday at 1 pm CT, and that match can be seen on ESPN+.

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5 takeaways from OU Women’s Soccer season opening 6-0 win over Tulsa

It was a phenomenal start to the season for Oklahoma Women’s Soccer. Here are 5 takeaways from the 6-0 win.

It was a fantastic debut for Matt Mott as head coach of the Oklahoma Women’s Soccer team. The Sooners rolled to a 6-0 win over Tulsa on Thursday night at John Crain Field.

A year ago, Oklahoma went 0-2-1 to start the season in their first three games and were outscored 9-3 in the process. With their offensive eruption against the Golden Hurricane, you can bet they won’t be outscored like that in their first three games this season.

“Overall, the team played really well against a good Tulsa tonight,” Head coach Matt Mott had to say after the win. “They came in here and fought us early on. When we got that first goal, it was huge for us, then as the game went on, I think we grew more into the game and realized what we were trying to do and were pretty dangerous all night.”

After stemming an early push from Tulsa, Oklahoma settled in and exploded offensively. The Matt Mott era is off to a great start in Norman.

Here are five takeaways from the 6-0 season-opening win.