University of Oregon
Portland State
Smith?s Overtime Goal Lifts Ducks Past PSU
09/29/06 | Women's Soccer
PORTLAND, Ore. ? Junior Tiffany Smith scored a golden goal with 3:07 left in the second overtime to lift Oregon past Portland State 1-0 on a warm Friday afternoon at Delta Park's Strasser Field.
The Ducks (6-4-0) outshot the Vikings 20-5, but could not break the PSU defense until freshman Rianna Mansfield crossed a ball through traffic to Smith on the right side, who beat Viking goalkeeper Rachel Jarvis from 10 yards out.
"When I saw the ball coming to me, I knew I had a player on my back, so I just turned and kicked the heck out of it," said Smith, the Eugene, Ore., native and Sheldon High graduate who played at Portland State her freshman season prior to transferring Oregon in 2005. "It was sweet once that ball went in. It's a rivalry game and all the players basically know each other and they gave us a pretty good battle."
It was Smith's second game-winning goal of the season and the first golden goal of her career. All of Smith's three career goals have been game-winners.
"Portland State followed their game plan and fought hard," said Oregon coach Tara Erickson, whose team beat PSU 2-1 in overtime last season. "That's a gut-wrenching way to win a game and a gut-wrenching way to lose a game.
"They are a hard team to score on but I thought we still could have been more dangerous in our attack from outside the 18 yard line," said Erickson, whose team switched to a three forward formation to start the final overtime period. "At the same time, I thought we battled very hard today, and did a good job of making adjustments to our game plan. Portland State took away (Nicole) Garbin and (Allison) Newton from us, but we kept playing hard and found a way to get one in. It was a good win for us."
Oregon's efforts were bolstered by the return of Mansfield and sophomore goalkeeper Jessie Chatfield. Mansfield, the 2005 Oregon prep player of the year from Eugene, had missed the last six games with a sore right hip flexor, but controlled the midfield after substituting in during the first half, and set up Smith's goal for the first assist of her career.
Chatfield, out since breaking her right hand Sept. 8 versus New Hampshire, made two saves in recording her second shutout of the season and ninth of her career.
"Jessie just gives us another level of confidence out there and is certainly one of our leaders on the field," said Erickson. "Rianna (Mansfield) is going to be a very good player. She's still learning and probably not yet at 100 percent, but her instincts are so good, especially when she wins the ball and then is ready to start attacking right away to move our team up the field and look to score."
The Ducks beat Portland State (0-9-1) for the first time in three tries in Portland.
The shutout of the Vikings came on the heels of a 2-0 blanking of Idaho on Sunday, giving the Ducks back-to-back shutouts for the second time this season.
"The defense did a good job of staying focused and organized," said Erickson. "That's probably been the most consistent part of our game this season."
Smith said it took a little extra motivation to earn the win today.
"Garbin pulled us together before the second overtime and said, "we are not going to lose this game," and that was it," Smith said. "We weren't going to lose and we didn't want to settle for a tie."
The Ducks will remain in the Rose City for a Sunday 2 p.m. date with defending NCAA Champion Portland.
GAME NOTES: Oregon had yet another one-goal game, it's ninth in 10 outings in 2006...chalk one up for the athletic training staff: sophomore Jen Cameron, who suffered a sprained right ankle Sunday against Idaho, recovered to start Friday versus the Vikings...Garbin's streak of four consecutive games with a point came to an end Friday...she remains five goals and two points shy of Chalise Baysa's UO career records...Smith's three career game-winning goals are tied for fifth all-time at Oregon...Chatfield's 11 career wins are tied with Domenique Lainez for third all-time at Oregon...Garbin, Adriana Montes and UO coach Tara Erickson all received yellow cards during Friday's game...Portland State's Karia Salina, a former Oregon player, was issued a yellow card, while PSU coach Tim Bennett was given a red card at the conclusion of the match.
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