STILLWATER — In the moment, Oklahoma State coach Colin Carmichael was crushed when his Cowgirls lost a double-overtime thriller to Kansas in the semifinals of the Big 12 Soccer Tournament last weekend.
With some time to reflect on it, though, Carmichael found the silver lining in his team suffering its second loss in 20 matches.
Third-seeded Oklahoma State (15-2-3) opens the NCAA Tournament against South Dakota State at 7 p.m. Friday at Neal Patterson Stadium. A win buys them another week off, with the second-round game against either Cal or Santa Clara, expected to be Nov. 22.