02/17/16 | Women's Lacrosse
EUGENE – The Oregon women's lacrosse team opens its 2016 season this weekend when it travels to face Michigan and Detroit.
The Ducks will take on Michigan on Friday at 2 p.m. PT at Oosterbaan Field House in Ann Arbor, Mich., to begin the weekend. Oregon will then head to Detroit for Sunday's game against the Titans at 9 a.m. PT.
ABOUT THE DUCKS
Entering her 12th year at the helm of the Oregon lacrosse program, head coach Jen Beck returns 21 players from last season's 10-8 campaign.
The Ducks' offensive attack will be led by senior Carly O'Connell and sophomore Cambi Cukar. O'Connell finished her junior campaign with a team-high 48 points (33g, 15a), while Cukar led the Ducks in assists on her way to tallying 45 points (9g, 36a) as a freshman.
Oregon's defense will be anchored by seniors Ali Scharkey, Jackie Moccia and Jenna Morris. Moccia led the Ducks in groundballs last season with 37, while Scharkey wasn't far behind with 32. Both finished with 15 caused turnovers. Morris recorded 12 appearances in goal for the Ducks in 2015, recording 48 saves and the second-lowest single-season goals against average in program history (8.84).
This offseason saw the arrival of seven freshmen to the Oregon lacrosse program, while Beck also announced the addition of former player Colleen Taggart to the staff as an assistant coach after the departure of seven-year assistant Jen Derby last fall.
SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES
The Ducks and Wolverines are primed for the two programs' first-ever meeting this Friday. Started in 2014, Michigan enters its third season as a program. Led by third-year head coach Jennifer Ulehla, the team returns 27 of the 31 players that saw action for the Wolverines in 2015.
The Wolverines posted a 5-12 record in 2015 with a winless 0-5 mark in Big Ten play. Michigan faced its toughest stretch of the season over the second half of the year, facing six ranked opponents over its last eight games, and finished the year on a nine-game losing streak. The Wolverines went 2-1 against opponents from the MPSF conference last season, recording wins over California and Saint Mary's, and dropping a 14-13 double overtime contest to Colorado in Ann Arbor.
Michigan enters Friday's bout with the Ducks at 1-1 on the season. The Wolverines opened the season with a 14-1 drubbing of Central Michigan, but are coming off a closely-contested, 12-11 loss at No. 7 Florida last Saturday.
TRACKING THE TITANS
The Ducks will also be facing Detroit for the first time when the two teams square off this weekend.
The Titans turned in a 10-8 mark last season, going 5-2 in Atlantic Sun play. Detroit advanced to the conference finals with wins over Stetson and Old Dominion, but fell to top-seeded Jacksonville 15-5 to end its season. The Titans split their two games against MPSF conference opponents last year, falling 13-10 at UC Davis before taking down Saint Mary's 16-6 in Moraga, Calif.
Detroit started off its 2016 season last weekend with a 22-8 loss at No. 18 Ohio State.
WATCHING THE RECORD BOOK
Senior Carly O'Connell is climbing up the Oregon record book in a multitude of categories. O' Connell tops the program list in draw controls per game (3.24), while sitting in the top five in points per game (2nd, 3.04), assists (5th, 71), assists per game (2nd, 1.34), draw controls (2nd, 172) and caused turnovers per game (3rd, 1.02) . With only one season under her belt, Cambi Cukar has an opportunity to move into the program's top 10 in assists. Cukar currently has 36 assists in her career, one behind 10th-place Jana Drummond (2009-12). The sophomore recorded the fourth-most assists in a single season in program history as a freshman in 2015.
BECK ADDS TAGGART TO STAFF
Oregon lacrosse head coach Jen Beck announced the addition of Colleen Taggart to the team's coaching staff as an assistant coach in October.
Taggart was a member of the Oregon lacrosse team from 2009-2012 and lettered all four years with 63 starts in 64 appearances as a defender for the Ducks. She also served as an undergraduate assistant coach during the Ducks' 2013 campaign. The Bay Shore, N.Y., native was a rock for the Oregon defense, earning first-team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation selections her sophomore and senior seasons. Taggart was also named to the MPSF All-Tournament Team in 2012 after helping lead the Ducks to their first MPSF Tournament title. A leader on and off the field, she was voted team captain three times by her teammates.
Three seasons removed from her final season at Oregon, Taggart still sits at 10th in the program record books for ground balls per game, having averaged 1.3 ground balls a game throughout the course of her career.
Taggart graduated from Oregon in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and sociology.
LACROSSE TO BECOME PAC-12 SPORT IN 2018
The Pac-12 Conference will add women's lacrosse for the 2017-18 season as the conference's 12th sponsored women's sport and 23rd overall. Arizona State announced it would add women's lacrosse in 2018, giving the Pac-12 six teams, the minimum number to qualify for a conference championship and NCAA tournament automatic-qualifying bid.
BECK SIGNS EIGHT TO NLI'S
Oregon women's lacrosse head coach Jen Beck announced the signing of eight players to National Letters of Intent last November. Julia Bolte, Emma Bowman, Madeleine Clark, Katie Donhauser, Gracyn Elliott, Caroline Jaworski, Jennifer Lanuza and Lindsey White will join the Ducks for the 2017 season.
DUCKS PICKED SIXTH IN MPSF
The Oregon women's lacrosse team was picked to finish sixth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation preseason coaches' poll, the league announced earlier this month.
Defending MPSF champion Stanford was selected to finish first, garnering 79 points and seven first-place votes in the poll. Runner-up USC was picked second with 75 points and three first-place votes, while Denver came in third with 63 points.Colorado (57) and San Diego State (46), who tied for fourth in the conference last season, came in fourth and fifth in the poll, respectively. Oregon was slotted just one point behind the fifth-place Aztecs with 45 points. California (31), UC Davis (26), Fresno State (19), and St. Mary's (9) rounded out the 2016 coaches' poll.
LOOKING FORWARD
After opening their season on the road this weekend, the Ducks will head back out east next weekend for a matchup with William & Mary on Sunday in Williamsburg, Va. Oregon's home opener will be Saturday, March 5 at noon against LIU Brooklyn at Papé Field.
