University of Oregon
Stanford
Ducks Shock & Dominate No. 16 Stanford, 10-6
02/10/07 | Women's Lacrosse
EUGENE -- Sophomores Ilsa van den Berg and Casey Rector combined for five goals as seven Ducks tallied scores and Oregon defeated the No. 16 ranked Stanford Cardinal 10-6 in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference game, Saturday afternoon at Pape' Field.
The win marks the first time that Oregon (1-0, 1-0) had defeated the perennial MPSF powerhouse and the first time the Ducks have opened the season with a victory. The Ducks have opened each of their three seasons against Stanford (0-1, 0-1).
"I thought we played really well today against a very tough team," head coach Jen Larsen said. "It was a big win, but we are just starting the season and we have to focus on taking it one game at a time."
Van den Berg had three goals to pace the Ducks, while Rector added two. Junior Theresa Waldron led the Ducks with four assists, while three other Ducks also added assists.
Junior Kate Fleming, starting in place of the injured Erin Gaebe, scored the first goal of the year for the Ducks 2:12 into the game to tie the score at 1-1. Stanford would tally a goal twenty seconds later to retake the lead.
Played in sloppy conditions and a driving rain, the first rain in a while for the normally wet region, the pace of the game seemed to favor the Ducks throughout.
The Ducks and Cardinal would trade series of goals until the 7:59 mark when Oregon began a run of six straight goals that would ultimately be the margin of defeat.
Alison Leiner tallied the first goal of the run, at the 7:59 mark and the Ducks controlled the defense throughout the end of the first half and into the second stanza.
Van den Berg put the second of her three goals home right before the end of the half, giving the Ducks the 6-4 halftime advantage.
Junior co-captain Jen May tallied her lone goal of the game home 50 seconds into the second half. May was injured midway through the second half as she appeared to collapse after being hit in the head with a stick.
"After May went down, we knew that we had to step it up to get the victory for her," Waldron said. "She has given so much to this team that we wanted to give her something back."
The rest of the team would do their co-captain proud, as Stanford tried to make a late run, cutting the lead to 10-6 with 7:03 remaining. They would get no closer however, as the Ducks played tough defense and ball control.
Redshirt sopohmore goalkeeper Anna Poponyak showed the same form that she showed during the MPSF conference tournament as she made six crucial saves throughout the match.
The Oregon defense only gave up a few open looks to the Cardinal, as many of their shots were sent wide through traffic.
The Ducks will next face UC Davis at Pape' Field on Sunday, Feb. 18, at 1 p.m.
