STILLWATER, Okla. – The No. 16-ranked West Virginia University women's soccer team opens its final road trip of the 2018 regular season at reigning Big 12 Conference champion Oklahoma State on Friday, Oct. 19, with kick at Neal Patterson Stadium set for 7 p.m. EST.
 
Friday's match will broadcast regionally on FOX Sports Oklahoma.
 
The weekend opener features the last two conference champions. Upon entering the Big 12 in 2012, WVU (9-3-3, 5-1) won five consecutive regular-season titles. Despite losing 1-0 to the Mountaineers in Morgantown on Oct. 7, 2017, the Cowgirls (10-4-1, 2-3-1) claimed the 2017 title with an 8-1 conference mark; WVU went 7-1-1 in Big 12 play.
 
"Everything is on the line," Mountaineer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. "We finish up and control our destiny with three wins. OSU has a huge RPI right now. They have a great body of work. They are the defending Big 12 champions and are tough to beat at home. This is a huge road game for us, and it's going to take everything we have to get the result."
 
The Mountaineers are 8-0 all-time against the Cowgirls. Each meeting but the team's 2016 contest has been decided by one goal.
 
"All the teams are fighting for the same thing right now – to be No. 1," Izzo-Brown added. "Oklahoma State has always played us well, and it's always been a huge battle. We know it's going to be an incredible game."
 
In last season's victory, All-American defender Amandine Pierre-Louis tallied the game-winner in the 29th minute. The WVU defense held OSU to two shots on-goal and two corner kicks, both the second-lowest season totals for OSU at that time. The Mountaineers finished with a 36-7 shot edge and forced the Cowgirls into 12 saves. WVU earned 10 corner kicks, and Rylee Foster earned credit for the clean sheet.
 
The teams last met in Stillwater in 2015, a 2-1 (OT) win for then-No. 2 WVU.
 
Winners in eight of their last nine matches, the Mountaineers have not allowed a goal in a Big 12 road contest this season. WVU shows eight total clean sheets on the year and has outscored its opponents, 25-8.
 
WVU is 4-1-3 away from Morgantown this season.
 
The Mountaineers enter the match ranked No. 2 in the Big 12, No. 15 nationally, with a 0.509 goals-against average (GAA). WVU's shutout percentage of 0.533 is third-best in the conference, No. 29 in the NCAA.
 
Foster, a junior, ranks No. 2 in the Big 12, No. 18 nationally, with a 0.52 GAA. Credited with seven of the team's shutouts this season, she ranks No. 3 in program history with 27 career clean sheets.
 
WVU ranks No. 6 in the Big 12 with a 1.67 goals-per-game average. Senior forward Sh'Nia Gordon and sophomore midfielder Stefany Ferrer-vanGinkel pace the team with five goals each. Ferrer-vanGinkel ranks No. 1 on the team with 12 points (5 G, 2 A). Freshman forward Lizzie Mayfield owns a team-best four assists and ranks No. 9 in the Big 12 with a 0.29 assists-per-game average.
 
Currently seventh in the Big 12 standings, OSU is winless in its last four matches. Most recently, the Cowgirls dropped an 0-1 decision at No. 14 Baylor on Oct. 12. It was only the second time in 2018 OSU failed to tally a score.
 
OSU ranks No. 3 in the Big 12 with a 1.80 goals-per-game average and shows 27 scores on the season, the fifth-best total in the conference. Senior forwards Marlo Zoller and Haley Woodard pace OSU with 14 (6 G, 2 A) and 13 (6 G, 1 A) points, respectively.
 
Defensively, the Cowgirls rank No. 3 in the Big 12, No. 48 nationally, with a 0.781 GAA. Freshman Hannah Warner and sophomore Dani Greenlee split time in net at Baylor, with Warner allowing the game-winner and making four saves. Greenlee stopped six. Warner has seen time in 13 matches and shows a team-best 0.47 GAA.