University of Oregon
5-2
High Point
1-3
Ducks' Rally Falls Short at High Point
03/05/17 | Women's Lacrosse
MARIAH GATTI (FIVE GOALS) AND JOJO HESKETH (FOUR GOALS) LEAD OFFENSIVE ATTACK, BUT DUCKS FALL TO HIGH POINT, 17-13, IN NORTH CAROLINA
Photo: Stan Barnhill
HIGH POINT, N.C. - The Oregon women's lacrosse team fought hard after falling into an early hole against High Point, but the Ducks were unable to complete the comeback as they suffered their first road loss of the season, 17-13.
How it Happened: After falling into early deficits of 6-0 and 10-2, the Ducks (5-2) began to find some momentum late in the first half with three consecutive goals by Mariah Gatti, JoJo Hesketh and Julia Taylor to go into halftime down five, 10-5.
High Point (1-3) started fast again in the second half, ripping off four goals in a row to extend its lead to nine, 14-5. Hesketh scored her second goal of the game with 24:13 remaining before the Panthers pushed their lead to 10, 16-6.
The Ducks began to climb their way back into it from that point, scoring four unanswered goals to cut the deficit to six goals, 16-10. Taylor recorded her second-career hat trick with a pair of goals sandwiched around Gatti's second score, and Bella Pyne got her first of the game on a dish from freshman Julia Bolte with 10:20 remaining.
High point pushed its lead back to seven at the 8:04 mark, and the Ducks were held scoreless over the next six minutes. Hesketh added her career-best fourth goal of the game with 2:04 left, and Gatti added two more to cap a great offensive day in the final minutes, but the Panthers' lead was too much to overcome for the visiting Ducks.
Who Stood Out: Gatti tied her career-high with five goals, while Hesketh scored four times to go with four draw controls. Taylor added three goals, an assist and three draw controls in a complete performance, and the freshman Bolte did a nice job of setting up her teammates with a season-high four assists. Leading goal-scorers Shannon Williams and Bella Pyne were held to one goal between the two of them, but they did tally four total assists.
What it Means: The Ducks suffered their first road loss of the season and are now 2-1 in a stretch of eight consecutive games away from home. Despite the loss, Oregon showed impressive resolve down the stretch, outscoring High Point 8-3 in the final 25 minutes and 7-1 in the last 15 minutes.
Notable: Cambi Cukar, currently second on the UO all-time assists list, recorded one against the Panthers to move her career total to 99 … Freshman goalie Maddie Clark saw her first extended action of the year, taking over in net late in the first half … The Ducks have scored in double-digits in all seven of their games this season.
Up Next: The Ducks will have this week in Eugene before hitting the road again to head to Denver, Colo., to face Vermont (March 17) and conference rival Colorado (March 19).
