University of Oregon
Stanford
No. 17 Stanford Hands Oregon First Pac-10 Loss
10/29/06 | Women's Soccer
STANFORD, Calif. ? Rachel Buehler headed in a corner kick in the 64th minute to lift No. 17 Stanford to a 1-0 victory against Oregon Sunday afternoon before 949 at Maloney Field. Hillary Heath took the corner kick for Stanford and received the assist on Buehler's goal.
"Of course I would have liked a win, but I'm not disappointed in the way we played today," said Oregon coach Tara Erickson. "Our effort was really good and everyone battled hard."
The loss was the Ducks' first in Pac-10 play and halted the team's unbeaten streak at six games. Oregon remained in third place in the conference with a 4-1-2 record with two games to play, and is 10-6-2 overall. Stanford solidified its hold on second place, moving to 6-1-1 in league play and 13-5-1 overall.
Senior forward Nicole Garbin appeared to have put the Ducks on the scoreboard in the 27th minute, but a late offsides call negated what would have been her school-record 32nd career goal.
Still, Garbin squeezed off three shots to break the UO single-season record. She finished the day with 73 shots so far in 2006, breaking the previous mark of 70 set by Beth Bowler in 2001 and tied by Garbin in 2003.
Goalkeeper Jessie Chatfield made four saves for the Ducks, while Erica Holland recorded two saves for Stanford.
The Cardinal outshot Oregon 13-5, the latter figure marking a season-low for the Ducks.
"They are a hard team to defend," said Erickson. "Their attack is really potent. I can't believe they don't score more goals."
Oregon put forth a valiant effort on a field on which it had been outscored 13-0 in four previous games. The Ducks are still winless in 10 meetings with the Cardinal.
"We played two really good, defensive-minded teams this weekend," said Erickson, whose team tied California 0-0 on Friday. "So I think this trip was successful in terms of playing hard and believing we could compete with Cal and Stanford.
"Obviously, we would have liked to have seen more success on the offensive end, but if we come home and play as hard as we did today and generate a little more of an attack, I think we'll get good results next weekend."
Oregon, which can finish no lower than fifth in the Pac-10, enters the final weekend of conference play with a three point lead on Washington State (3-2-2) and a four point edge on USC (2-1-4) for third place in the league. The top three teams in the Pac-10 have received bids to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last eight seasons.
The Ducks close out the regular season with home matches Friday against Pac-10 leading and third-ranked UCLA and next Sunday versus USC.
"We've come a long way but we can't approach these games like we're already in the NCAA Tournament," said Erickson. "We're going to put it all on the line next weekend."
GAME NOTES: Garbin appeared in her 74th career game, tied for fifth on the UO all-time list...Oregon's six game unbeaten streak was its longest ever in Pac-10 play, and it second-longest overall.
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