University of Oregon
California
May and MacDonald's Late Goals Lead Ducks Over Bears, 8-7
05/06/07 | Women's Lacrosse
DAVIS, Calif. -- Co-captain Jen May scored with 1:04 remaining and the Ducks held on for the 8-7 victory over the California Golden Bears in the third-place game of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament, Sunday afternoon.
After California rallied from down 5-2 at the half to tie the game at 6-6 with 11:06 remaining, the Ducks called a timeout to regroup and the teams would play even for the next six minutes until sophomore Sarah MacDonald broke through the defense and Alison Leiner set her up with a pass, which Macdonald put past California goalkeeper Hillary Lynch to give the Ducks the 7-6 lead with 4:35 remaining.
May seemed to seal the victory for the Ducks with her only goal of the day, which gave the Ducks an 8-6 lead, but California's Danni Zuralow would make the last seconds interesting as she got a shot past Oregon's goalkeeper, Anna Poponyak, with :48 seconds remaining. May then stepped up on the draw control and won the ball, allowing the Ducks to run out the clock.
Poponyak had 10 saves for the Ducks, including a couple of late stops
against the Bears, who outshot Oregon 24-22 on the afternoon.
"We were really upset about the loss yesterday, we really wanted to
beat California," Poponyak said. "We are glad to get the victory, but
next year we want a championship and we still have work to do to get to
that point."
Junior Kate Fleming scored a hat trick to lead the Ducks, as she finishes the season as the Ducks leading goal scorer with 33. Senior transfer Brooke Dieringer finishes her career on a high note, with two goals to give her 32 on the year, second on the team and the most goals of her career.
Leiner had three points on the day as she tallied a goal and two assists. Both Leiner and May finish the year with 22 goals and 17 assists, tied for fourth on the team in points. Sophomore Ilsa van den Berg finishes the season as the Ducks' leading point scorer, adding an assist against California to bring her season total to 47 points.
May and sophomore midfielder Alicia Burkhart were both named to the All-MPSF Tournament Team.
With the win, the Ducks finish the season with a program best 12-7 overall record, while the Bears finish the season at 7-10. The Ducks have won the last three matches against the Golden Bears after losing the first two meetings between the programs.
The Ducks have improved their season record in every year since the program's inception, finishing with a 6-11 record in 2005 and a 10-9 record in 2006.
