University of Oregon
Utah State
Nifty Passing Leads to Newton's Goal in Ducks' 1-0 Victory
08/30/08 | Women's Soccer
EUGENE, Ore. ? The Oregon women's soccer team secured its first win of the season in its 2008 home-opener on Friday night with a 1-0 victory against visiting Utah State.
The Ducks' and the game's lone goal came in the 19th minute on a beautiful developing play that was started by Jessica Goodell's pass to Teresa Bowns in the center of the pitch just past the midfield line. Bowns redirected the pass back to the outside, where Jen Stoltenberg advanced the ball down the far sideline and crossed it low and fast in to Allison Newton, who collected the pass and fired the ball into the back of the net in one motion from five yards out.
It was Newton's first goal ? the Ducks' second ? of the young season and the 12th of her collegiate career. Stoltenberg and Bowns were credited with assists on the play.
“Feels good to be on the winning side for sure,” head coach Tara Erickson said. “I was hoping to make it a little more convincing on the score, but the win was great, I can't take that away from the kids at all.
“I think we should have put away a few more opportunities and not given Utah State a chance to hang around and that's something we'll be working on.”
Oregon kept the pressure on throughout the contest, evidenced by the team's 17-5 edge in shots and 12-1 advantage on corner kicks. It was the highest number of corners attempted by the Ducks since matching the school record with 15 Sept. 18, 2001 against San Jose State.
Freshman goalkeeper Cody Miles made a pair of saves to record her first victory and her first shutout as a Duck.
“It's nice to see her playing with confidence, coming out on balls, and she has just got nice hands,” Erickson said about her freshman goalie. “The more confidence that she puts out there, the more confidence our team feels.”
The game's first scoring threat came in early the first half when Kirstie Kuhns played the ball down the middle, through the defense. Stoltenberg took the pass on a breakaway and dribbled the ball toward the Aggies' goal before firing a shot from just inside the box. Her attempt was blocked away from the net to a Utah State defender, ending the Ducks' scoring chance.
Newton had a second scoring chance just inside of 10 minutes in the first half when Stoltenberg fired a pass from the far corner across the net but Newton's shot from the corner of the keeper's box faded just wide of the near post.
Newton nearly scored again in the 41st minute when a crossing pass squirted through the defense to the far post. Newton stood all alone but her shot ricocheted off the Utah State keeper's shoulder and the Aggie defense cleared the ball away once again.
At halftime, the Ducks held a 11-3 edge in shots and 4-1 lead in corner kicks.
Through the first 15 minutes of the second half, the Ducks applied furious pressure on the Aggie net, compiling five corner kicks. Stoltenberg was once again directing traffic, playing numerous balls into the Utah State box. On one particular play, Stoltenberg, while driving towards the net, played a nifty ball backwards off her heel to Bowns for a crossing pass that skipped around the area before being cleared by the Utah State defense.
In the 68th minute, Bowns got into the crossing business, launching a ball over the Utah State defense that led a sprinting Mackenzie Doty to the far post. The Aggies' keeper tried to make a play on it but the ball bounced past her and, in front of an open net, rolled out-of-bounds before Doty could put a foot on it.
The Ducks had another great scoring chance in the 72nd minute when Goodell fired a crossing pass through the air toward the far post where Bowns leaped off the pitch and redirected it across the net with a header. The ball skated past the Aggies' keeper and rolled inches wide of the opposite post.
Dani Oster was also inches away from the second goal of her career when she slipped past the last Utah State defender after taking a pass from Goodell and took a hard shot that was snatched mid-air on a diving save by the Aggies' Molli Merrill, who entered the game in goal for the second half.
The Ducks set up their 12th corner kick of the game in the 85th minute when Bowns took a long shot from 30 yards out that needed to be punched up over the cross bar by Merrill to prevent the score.
“It's great to see a variety of players becoming more involved in the offense,” Newton said following the victory. “We had some dynamic runs and no problems getting into the box, we just didn't get it in there. Maybe we need to be hungrier and go in and just put it away.”
Oregon will play the second home game of its four-game home stand on Sunday against No. 25 ranked Purdue. Last year the Ducks and Boilermakers met in West Lafayette, Ind. with Purdue narrowly edging Oregon, 3-2.
NOTES: Allison Newton's 12th career goal moved her into a tie for fifth all-time with Sierra Marsh (1996-99) ... Teresa Bowns' eighth career assist tied her with Newton for fourth all-time in program history ... Bowns recorded two shots against the Aggies, moving her from 10th to ninth on the all-time shots list with 75 ... Three yellow cards were issued in the match: Utah State's Lindsey Smart in the 50th minute, Utah State's Shantel Flanary in the 73rd minute and Oregon's Mercedes Walters in the 76th minute.
www.GoDucks.com
