• New coach, new season
In its first preseason game under coach Nicole Nelson, Oklahoma could have picked an easier opponent than Stephen F. Austin. The LadyJacks are coming off a 13-5-2 season, a conference championship and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
But under Nelson, easier will not be the norm.
Against the LadyJacks, the Sooners held on for a 1-0 victory Friday night at John Crain Field. It was not the offensive explosion Nelson wanted, but it was a win.
“I thought we played well for our first game,” Sooner goalie Lisa Jett said. “We have been preparing a lot in our camp. We were pretty comfortable together.”
Nelson was the head coach at Stephen F. Austin for three years. When she left, she was the program’s all-time winningest coach.
In her first game with OU, Nelson showed she is willing to shake things up to get the results she wants. She started four players that are new to the program. They include transfers Sage Coralli and Jett and freshmen Kelsey Kraft and Michelle Alexander. They were all part of the recruiting class she brought to change the direction of the OU program.
“At first it was a little slow in the first half,” Kelsey Allison said. “The second half was a lot better. We started getting our rhythm down. We still have a lot to work on. Overall it was pretty good for the first game.”
The change in the Sooner philosophy was evident early. With Coralli and Lauren Allek joining last year’s leading scorer, Whitney Palmer, up front, OU was aggressive and on the attack constantly.
In the first half, the Sooners racked up 11 shots in 45 minutes. Yet, the volume of shots did nothing to change the scoreboard. They went into halftime scoreless.
Even though OU got the looks it wanted, it could not find the back of the goal.
“I am happy with the amount of shots we got,” Nelson said. “That means we are creating goal-scoring opportunities. This early in the season, you have six days to prepare for your first game. So finishing is something that will come in the next week or two.”
The game’s only score came two minutes into the second half. Allison blasted a shot from 20 yards out that hit the top cross bar and bounced down into the goal.
After getting only three shots in the first half, Allison finished the night with eight of the teams 22 shots.
“I just had to go in at half time and get my head in it,” Allison said. “I was a little nervous in the first half. I had to go think about. I was just nervous about playing with the freshmen. We have a young team. I was kind of nervous about it all. It turned out pretty well and will only get better from here.”
Despite the win, the Sooners showed they have not completely adjusted to the increased tempo Nelson demands.
“It was not a constant,” the Sooner coach said. “It’s something that has to become a constant. Lack of game fitness this early in the year causes it not to be a constant. At times we really went at them, and put them under pressure and attacked at a high speed. But it was pretty slow in parts of the game.”
Michael Kinney
366-3537
mkinney@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
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