University of Oregon
Oregon State
Garbin?s Golden Goal Beats Beavers 2-1
10/20/06 | Women's Soccer
EUGENE, Ore. ? Nicole Garbin scored a golden goal 3:50 into the first overtime as Oregon defeated Oregon State 2-1 before 1,243 fans Friday night at Pape' Field.
With the win, the Ducks set school single-season records for wins (10) and Pac-10 wins (4) and more importantly, stayed on top of the Pac-10 standings with a 4-0-1 mark, 10-5-1 overall.
"It made it really sweet to set those records in the Civil War beating Oregon State," said Oregon coach Tara Erickson. "But at the same time, we knew that it was an important game that we needed to win.
"I'm more than just speechless, I've got a few tears in my eyes, but how could I not? Every win is a great win, but this tops them all. When you add in all the milestones and everything else, it just makes this win great."
Garbin's goal -- her 20th career game-winner -- came at the end of a wild sequence that saw the Ducks throw three shots on goal, including a wide-open attempt by Tiffany Smith on which OSU goalkeeper Melissa Onstead made a remarkable diving save. But the Beavers couldn't clear the ball from their end and Oregon sent it back in from the wing, where a half-dozen players got a touch on it before it bounced to Garbin, who was all alone 15 yards in front of the net.
The Ducks all-time points leader didn't flinch as she hit the game-winner.
"After regulation, I felt like I was going to score, just being a senior and this being my last Civil War," said Garbin, who also beat Portland State with a golden goal last season. "I was just in the right place in the right time, honestly. I was surprised when it happened, everything just kind of slowed down when I saw the ball and I realized I was going to put it in the back of the net."
Garbin's game-winner was her ninth goal of the season and 31st of her career, tying her for the UO all-time record with Chalise Baysa, who played from 1998-01. The sixth-year senior from Wailuku, Hawaii, now holds or shares 16 school records.
After a scoreless first half in which the teams combined for only eight shots, Jodie Taylor got the Beavers (8-6-2, 1-4-0) on the board in the 53rd minute when she picked off an Oregon attempt to clear the ball and curved a shot over UO goalkeeper Jessie Chatfield into the upper left corner of the net from 15 yards out. It was the seventh goal of the season for Taylor.
Sophomore midfielder Allison Newton recorded the equalizer for the Ducks in the 67th minute. She corralled a loose ball at the upper left corner of OSU's penalty box, dribbled to the top of the circle and turned and fired a laser from 23 yards out that went into the right side of the net.
"This was the most emotional, heartfelt game that I've ever had in college soccer," said Newton, the sophomore from Eugene, who scored her fourth goal of the season. "After losing to Oregon State last year, I felt like, for our program, we needed to win. It feels really good to finally beat OSU.
"I was so happy after I scored because it really fired us up and we were taking a lot more shots," added Newton. "From then on I knew that one of them was going to go in."
Both keepers made big stops to send the game to overtime. The Beavers' Onstead had nine saves for the game, while Oregon's Jessie Chatfield turned back one.
"At the end of regulation, I just told everyone that we were outplaying and out-hustling them, but we had to believe that we could win, and we did, and it showed."
The third-largest soccer crowd in school history saw the Ducks defeat Oregon State at Pape' Field for the first time since 1998. It was also Oregon's first overall win in the series since a 4-3 overtime decision in Corvallis in 2003.
The Ducks also won for just the second time this season after giving up the first goal of a game.
"It was awesome to be able to battle back from being a goal down," said Erickson. "I thought we had some quality shots. It was great for our midfield to score in run of play. I thought our midfield played really well tonight. Jen Cameron and Rianna Mansfield dominated the middle and Oregon State had a lot of trouble getting out of their own half of the field because of the way our midfield played tonight."
With four games remaining, Oregon has now secured its first winning regular season in school history.
"The most important thing tonight was to get that winning season," said Erickson. "These players already knew that we've improved, but now they know they are a part of history; that we've taken the next step as a program.'
The Ducks next face California, a 4-1 winner at Washington, next Friday in Berkeley.
"We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves," said Newton. "Our next games are really important to show everybody that we are a good team, and that we can make the NCAA tournament.
GAME NOTES: Oregon's previous high-win mark was nine in 2003 and 2005...the previous Pac-10 mark of three happened in 1998, 1999 and 2003...Garbin needs just two more shots to break her own single-season record of 70 (2003)...she's also just one goal back of her single-season record of 10, set in 2005.
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