University of Oregon
2-0, 1-0
San Diego State
0-2, 0-1
Williams Leads Ducks Past SDSU To Open MPSF Play
02/11/17 | Women's Lacrosse
SHANNON WILLIAMS LEADS DUCKS WITH FOUR GOALS AND FIVE POINTS AS OREGON IMPROVES TO 2-0 AND OPENS CONFERENCE PLAY WITH A WIN
EUGENE, Ore. - The Oregon women's lacrosse team opened conference play with an 11-9 win over San Diego State and improved to 2-0 to start the season on Saturday afternoon at Pape Field.
How it Happened: The Ducks (2-0, 1-0 MPSF) opened up a lead within the first three minutes for the second straight game, as sophomore Shannon Williams found junior Mariah Gatti with a beautiful pass from left of the cage for a goal. San Diego State (0-2, 0-1 MPSF) quickly responded, though, pulling the game even with a score at the 25:43 mark. Oregon answered back less than a minute later, as senior Bella Pyne snuck the ball into the goal with a left-handed shot from the right side.
After more than 10 scoreless minutes, Natalie Modly raced into the scoring area and bounced one into the net to extend the Ducks' lead to 3-1, and Williams took a stellar feed from Cambi Cukar with 2:23 left in the half to push Oregon's lead to three. The Aztecs ended the half with a goal with 26 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to two, 4-2.
Williams got things going again for the Ducks out of the half, rolling around the cage and zipping the ball past the goaltender for her second goal of the game. After an Aztec score, Pyne scored her second goal of the day on a pass from Gatti and Cukar tallied her second point with an impressive goal from the right side to make Oregon's lead 7-3.WATCH | A look at all 11 goals from the Ducks' 11-9 win over San Diego State. #GoDucks https://t.co/LVWuXZBfdx
— Oregon Lacrosse (@OregonWLAX) February 11, 2017
Two goals by SDSU and Gatti's second goal of the game pushed Oregon's lead to 8-5 with 15 minutes remaining, and Williams took the Ducks' lead to four when she found an empty net for her first hat trick of the year. The sophomore scored fourth goal of the game six minutes later with a left-handed shot to put Oregon up, 10-6.
After the Aztecs trimmed the lead to 10-8 with six minutes left, sophomore Julia Taylor made her presence felt with her first goal of the day and fourth of the year on Cukar's second assist. The Aztecs scored 30 seconds later to pull within three, but the Ducks were able to ice the game and come away with a win.
Who Stood Out: Williams was a threat to score all game, finishing with a career-high four goals and an assist to finish with five points. Gatti tallied three points with two goals and an assist, and Cukar celebrated her 21st birthday with two assists and a score. Pyne also found the net twice, and Modly and Taylor each scored once. Junior JoJo Hesketh was stellar for the Ducks with seven draw controls to help Oregon win that battle, 14-8, and Becca Katzen made seven saves to earn her second win in as many games.
Notable: The Ducks and Aztecs each finished with 18 turnovers, with Oregon causing 17 of SDSU's 18 giveaways … Oregon ended with 28 total shots, with 19 of those coming on goal … head coach Katrina Dowd is now 2-0 in her career as a head coach … Five Ducks finished with multiple caused turnovers, with Modly, Taylor and Jill Zubillaga each tallying three … San Diego State's Vickie Porter finished with a hat trick to lead the Aztecs.
Quotable: Head Coach Katrina Dowd
"I thought we played hard throughout the whole game. Coming off last week, we really wanted to focus on the draw, and I think we did take care of that area of the game. We were careless with the ball a little bit, and we've got to put our shots away overall. Credit San Diego State, they're a well-coached team and they played hard the whole game. I'm proud that we could handle their run there at the end and we're really happy to open conference play with a win."
Up Next: The Ducks will have a quick turnaround as they welcome Canisius to Pape Field on Monday at 1 p.m.
