Nobody around here will fault Morgan McDougal for picking the wrong Cowgirls.

Fortunately for Wyoming, she eventually got it right.

McDougal is one of the Wyoming soccer team's most versatile members. In fact, she's played every position on the field, forward, defender and midfield. She will be playing midfield this weekend as the Cowgirls head into a huge three-match homestand beginning tomorrow with Nevada at 3 p.m. at the Louis S. Madrid Sports Complex. The Cowgirls then host UNLV Sunday at 1 p.m., and close out the homestand with Colorado State on Oct. 26.

Hailing from Highlands Ranch, Colo., McDougal was an outstanding high school athlete at Mountain Vista High School which won the Class 5A state championship in 2013. She also lettered in basketball for three seasons.
  
Highly recruited as a prepster, her collegiate choices came down to the Oklahoma State Cowgirls and the Wyoming Cowgirls.

In the eyes of the brown and gold faithful, she picked the wrong place.

"It was a family thing mainly," says the bright, upbeat junior. "I had a lot of family members who went to Oklahoma State, so it was kind of expected. Plus, I was impressed with the fact it was the Big 12."

McDougal remained in Stillwater for two seasons, and by the end of her second year she had to make a tough decision. "I hold no bad feelings for Oklahoma State," she says. "In the end it just wasn't the best fit for me." What's a fit? "My relationship with the coach and the style of play just weren't feeling right for me."

So she reached out to Wyoming and Wyoming coach Pete Cuadrado was happy to bring her to Wyoming. She came to Laramie as a midfielder, but last spring worked at forward and defender as well. "I really don't care where I play," says McDougal. "I have always felt that the more positions you play, the more chances you get to play."

During her first Wyoming season a year ago, Morgan appeared in 19 games and started 12. She logged 1,122 minutes for the Cowgirls.
  
While she is a junior academically, she is a senior athletically, and is currently enjoying her final campaign with the Cowgirls. She has played in all of Wyoming's 16 games thus far in 2018, and has started 12.

She is a big part of this year's very successful Cowgirl team. Wyoming enters this week's competition with a 9-3-4 overall record, and a 4-2-2 mark in Mountain West play. That includes a huge 1-0 overtime victory at San Jose State last Sunday. The Spartans are one of the top teams in the MW annually.

McDougal is a big fan of this current Cowgirl team. "To begin with, the coaches are outstanding. They care about us on a personal level. They really care whether I'm okay in school, or okay in life. I think understanding each one of us makes them better coaches. We're thankful to have them. 

"I know it sounds like a cliché, but we are very close team, on and off the field. We enjoy being around each other. I feel like I could go to any one of the girls and bear my soul. That translates to the field because we can push each other and take it in a constructive way. A team will allow what it allows. And we don't have time for drama.

"I think this team has a lot of confidence, and plays with energy. I feel like we can compete at a high level in this league. We are confident we can do what we need to do."

While she is slight of build, McDougal makes up for it with an outstanding soccer IQ. She knows the game, and she has great vision. Vision, she says, makes up for her lack of size.

"Morgan is very determined," says Cuadrado. "Not every student-athlete can make the moves she has. We've had her at midfield, she's been a defender, and she's been up top. She had not trained up top at all when we put her there. What does she do? She assists on the winning goal against San Jose State. That's just amazing. She's smart and she's very technical. She knows the game, she's a thinker."

Speaking of "thinker", this young lady is very special academically. She is majoring in engineering, while earning a second degree in sociology.  

She is specializing in civil engineering and when finished with school she wants to go to an underdeveloped country and utilize both majors to help those who need it. At one point in her collegiate career she was majoring in psychology. "But I missed doing the math," she says, "so I switched to engineering." Who, ever says that!
  
McDougal credits both Oklahoma State and Wyoming for her being the kind of player she is today. "I would say Big 12 soccer is more physical, and I learned that aspect of the game in that league. Even though I'm small, I learned how to use my body against the bigger girls. Wyoming has given me the confidence and belief that I can compete at a high level."  

McDougal is one of four children of Bob and Lynn McDougal. Dad played baseball at TCU and North Texas. She has an older brother, Marshall, and two younger sisters, Maycie, who is a freshman soccer player at Louisiana Tech, and Molly, who is a freshman in high school. "Yup, Marshall, Morgan, Maycie and Molly," she says with a smile.
 
Who's the best athlete? 

"I don't think there's any question, it's Molly. I think she will be the best of all of us, which often happens to the youngest. I feel she will be recruited heavily by Division I schools."

Morgan's enthusiasm is contagious. By the time I was finished with our interview, I was feeling better about life.

"I love all of it," Morgan says of her experience at Wyoming. "I love the competition, I love the team aspect and I love that we really do feel like a family. I'm really going to miss it when it's over."