University of Oregon
Portland State
Garbin?s Goal Beats Vikings in Overtime
09/04/05 | Women's Soccer
EUGENE, Ore. ? Nicole Garbin scored a golden goal 4:57 into overtime to lead Oregon past Portland State 2-1 Sunday afternoon before 526 at Pape' Field.
Senior Andrea Valadez served a hard cross in from the right corner that Garbin reached in the air and the senior from Wailuku, Hawaii, then used her knee to quickly brush the ball just past the near goal post from six yards out, ending the match.
"We haven't had a lot of opportunities like that and it was starting to get frustrating," said Garbin. "It's good to get that one. We just need to keep it going."
The win gave Oregon a 3-1-1 mark on the season, and -- just five matches into the year -- the Ducks have already equalled their victory total from 2004 (3-13-3).
"Matching last season's win total was one of the first things we wanted to accomplish and I'm happy we got that this early," said Oregon head coach Tara Erickson, who coached at Portland State from 2001-04 before taking the UO job last January. "I'm excited that Garbin got the goal in the run of play and we created that as a result of pressing (PSU) and forcing a turnover and then Andrea (Valadez) served a really nice ball that Garbin converted."
Garbin's goal was her third of the season (15th career) and all three have been game-winners. She extended her UO record in that category with her ninth career game-winning goal.
It looked like Katie Abrahamson's goal in the 51st minute -- a well-played header off a Sarah Yoro corner kick -- would stand up for the Ducks until the Vikings (1-3-0) scored on a mad scramble in the final minute.
With just :27 remaining in regulation, Sarah Smart found the Oregon net after Juli Edwards crossed the ball into the far side and Megan Plinski tapped the ball away from UO goalkeeper Jessie Chatfield, attempting to break up the cross. Plinski's ball ended up in front of Smart, who tapped it in from point blank range to force overtime.
Chatfield made five saves for the Ducks and nearly got her third shutout of 2005.
"Kaite Abrahamson played a fantastic game not just in terms of scoring a goal, but in her leadership and her organization," said Erickson. "Her and Dylann (Tharp) were really the keys in controlling the middle of the field today.
"What really impressed me was that after the end of regulation when we were in our huddle, Katie said, ?we are going to win this game. If you don't think we can win this game, don't step on the field with me.' And that's all that needed to be said."
Oregon, which has played a lot of soccer in the last five days (three seconds shy of 295 minutes to be exact), gets a brief break before embarking on its longest road trip of the season to face Elon of the Southern Conference Friday in North Carolina and then North Carolina State Sunday in Raleigh, N.C.
"It was good to get those three wins out of the way to match our mark from last year," said Abrahamson, who scored her third career goal. "Now we just need to take it on the road and play as well as we have this weekend."
Notes: Valadez recorded her seventh career assist on Garbin's goal to move into a tie for sixth on the UO career list with Chalise Baysa (1998-01) and Beth Bowler (1998-01)...Valadez now has 23 career points (8G, 7A), which ranks seventh at UO...Garbin remains third at Oregon in both career points (43) and goals (15)...the win ended PSU's two-match winning streak against Oregon (both coming under Erickson)...whistles were frequent in the Oregon-PSU match with Ducks being called for 18 fouls and the Vikings 12...Oregon was also whistled for a season-high seven offsides...Oregon now hasn't lost an overtime game since the final contest of the 2003 season, going 3-0-4 in its last seven overtime games.
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