Ducks to Open MPSF Tournament Against SDSU

EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon women's lacrosse team is set to compete in the MPSF Tournament this week, and will open as the No. 4 seed against No. 5 seed San Diego State on Thursday at 4 p.m. in Los Angeles. The Ducks (9-7, 5-3 MPSF) take a two-game winning streak into the tournament and will try to advance past the first round for the first time since 2014.

"As a new coaching staff coming in, I think we're more comfortable with our conference opponents now after playing each of them," head coach Katrina Dowd said," so I think that will definitely help us in the tournament. We just have to do the little things extremely well, play smart lacrosse and take care of the ball. I told them it's a brand new season now, so it's going to come down to how smart we play and how hard we fight."

MPSF TOURNAMENT BREAKDOWN
While the Ducks will open against San Diego State in the opening round, Stanford will play the first game of the tournament as the No. 3 seed against No. 6 seed California at noon on Thursday. The winner between the Ducks and the Aztecs will move on to face top-seed and host USC at noon on Friday, and the winner of the Stanford-California match-up will play No. 2 seed Colorado at 4 p.m. The championship game will be at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

HOW TO FOLLOW
The MPSF Tournament will be broadcast live through Flo Lacrosse, and a tournament central page for the weekend is available at usctrojans.com. A link to live stats for Oregon's games will be available on the lacrosse schedule on GoDucks.com, and updates will be provided on Twitter via @OregonWLAX.

WILLIAMS, PYNE, CUKAR EARN ALL-MPSF HONORS
Attacker Shannon Williams and midfielder Bella Pyne have earned all-MPSF first-team honors, while junior attacker Cambi Cukar has been named to the all-MPSF second-team. Williams secured a spot as one of the four attackers on the first-team after a tremendous sophomore regular season in which she broke the UO single-season record for goals (47) while also leading the team in points (68). Pyne earned an at-large spot on the first-team after proving to be an all-around force for the Ducks, leading the team in groundballs (28) and caused turnovers (25) while placing second on the team in points (52) and tied for second in goals (41). Cukar enjoyed another tremendous season as the quarterback of the offense, leading the MPSF and placing sixth in the nation with 39 assists in the regular season.

CUKAR BREAKS UO ALL-TIME ASSIST RECORD
Only in her third season, junior Cambi Cukar has already broken the UO all-time assists record. With a program-record 46 assists in 2016, Cukar ran her career-total to 82 to pass Kristina Barrett (2009-12) for third. With a conference-best 39 assists this season, Cukar has passed Carly O'Connell (86) and Shannon Propst (114) to become the all-time leader in Oregon history with 121 for her career. With another year of eligibility still under her belt, Cukar is well on her way to shattering the previous record. Cukar broke the record at an astounding rate, doing so in only 51 games compared to 72 for Propst. She is one of only two Ducks in the top 10 to play in fewer than 70 games. Cukar also has 146 career points, putting her in 10th in Oregon history.

WILLIAMS ENJOYING SPECTACULAR SOPHOMORE SEASON
Sophomore attacker Shannon Williams has been a constant offensive threat for the Ducks this season, and is putting together a dynamic sophomore campaign after leading Oregon in goals as a freshman last year. In earning all-MPSF first-team honors, Williams finished the regular season third in the MPSF and tied for 19th in the nation in points with 68, and fourth in the conference and tied for 28th in the country in goals with a UO single-season record 47. She has also been great at setting up her teammates, placing sixth in the conference with 21 assists. Her 68 points are only three shy of matching another UO single-season record. Williams enjoyed a career night in the Ducks' 17-7 win against Vermont on March 17, scoring a career-best six goals and eight points. The Bel Air, Md., native has recorded three goals or more on nine separate occasions in 16 games this season.

LAST TIME AGAINST SAN DIEGO STATE
On February 11, the Ducks took care of San Diego State at home in a tight game, 11-9. Oregon took a slim 4-2 lead at halftime before the two teams were even, 7-7, in the second half. Shannon Williams led the Ducks with four goals, while Bella Pyne and Mariah Gatti each scored twice and Becca Katzen made seven saves. Vickie Porter's three goals led four Aztecs with double-digit goals. The all-time series between the two teams is tied, 3-3.

DUCKS ON THE ATTACK
With Shannon Williams leading the way, the Ducks are proving to be a dangerous team on the offensive end this season with the ability to score quickly and often. Oregon is 41st in the nation in scoring offense with 12.56 goals per game, and 26th in the NCAA with 19.56 points per game. Williams leads the team with 47 goals and 68 points, while senior Bella Pyne and junior Mariah Gatti are tied for second in goals scored with 41 apiece. Pyne is second on the team in points scored with 52. Cambi Cukar leads both the club and the conference and is tied for sixth in the nation with 39 assists to give her 47 points, third-most on the team. In total, 11 Ducks have scored goals this season, three have 40 or more and six are in double-digits.

OREGON ACTIVE ON DEFENSE
The Ducks have been active on the defensive end thus far this season in terms of attacking the ball-carrier, as Oregon is 32nd in the nation and fourth in the conference with 10.13 caused turnovers per game and 162 total in 16 games. The Ducks have forced double-digit turnovers in nine different games this season, including a season-high 17 in a win over San Diego State (Feb. 11). Senior Bella Pyne leads the Ducks with 25 caused turnovers, while sophomore Mandi Trostle is second with 20 and unior Jill Zubillaga is third with 17. Nine different Ducks have forced double-digit turnovers so far this season.

ZUBILLAGA PROVING TO BE AN OFFENSIVE WEAPON
After playing almost exclusively as a defender her first two seasons and even the first five games this season, junior Jill Zubillaga has become a consistent scoring threat for the Ducks on the attack. She scored her first-career goal on March 17 against Vermont, and then erupted two days later at No. 4 Colorado with a four-goal performance. Zubillaga has followed that up with two goals against No. 15 Towson, three against George Mason and one against Virginia, and then added three at Stanford, two at UC Davis and two against Saint Mary's. Zubillaga has now scored 18 goals in nine games since moving to the offensive end, and has added three assists as well. Adding the offensive numbers, Zubillaga has become one of the most complete players for the Ducks as she leads the squad in draw controls (50) and is third in caused turnovers (17).

DUCKS ROUT SAINT MARY'S IN REGULAR-SEASON FINALE
The Ducks closed out their regular-season schedule in exciting fashion on Sunday at Pape Field, scoring a season-high 19 goals on senior day to beat Saint Mary's, 19-11, and guarantee themselves a winning record in the first season under Katrina Dowd.

April 23 - Oregon 19, Saint Mary's 11
The Ducks jumped out in front of Saint Mary's on a goal by Shannon Williams less than a minute into the action. Senior Rachel Steinberg made it 2-0, Ducks, four minutes later with a goal off an assist from UO all-time leader Cambi Cukar. The Gaels scored to get on the board, but the Ducks responded with a 5-0 run to take control of the game. Four different Ducks accounted for the five goals in the eight-minute stretch, with Steinberg scoring twice to earn a hat trick just 15 minutes into the game. Saint Mary's answered back with a pair of goals to make it 7-3, Oregon.

The Ducks would then put together another scoring run, this time a 5-1 stretch, with Williams, Jill Zubillaga and Steinberg each scoring before Mariah Gatti ripped off back-to-back scores. Saint Mary's scored twice late in the half to make it a 12-6 Oregon lead at the break. Oregon kept its offensive onslaught going in the second half, scoring four unanswered goals to take its biggest lead of the day at 16-6. Williams got the half going with her 47th goal of the year to tie the single-season record, and Bella Pyne followed with a pair of goals off assists from Williams and Cukar. After the Gaels cut it to 17-10, Williams scored her fourth goal of the game with 20:48 left, taking yet another assist from Cukar and turning it into her 47th goal of the season to break the single-season record. The Ducks and Gaels traded goals down the stretch, but the Ducks comfortably ran out the clock to victory.

Williams broke the record with four goals, tying for the team-lead with Steinberg, who tied her career-high in goals on her senior day. Williams also added two assists to finish with six points. Cukar finished with a game-high seven points to tie her career-high, dishing out six assists to tie another career-high. Pyne and Gatti each scored three times, and Zubillaga found the net twice. Julia Bolte finished with two assists, contributing to a season-high 11 total assists for the Ducks.

KATRINA DOWD TAKES OVER OREGON LACROSSE, BRINGS ON BLOCK AND TUMOLO AS ASSISTANTS
Katrina Dowd was introduced as the Ducks' second head coach in program history on June 15, 2016, coming to Eugene as one of the most established players and coaches in all of women's lacrosse. A prolific goal-scorer during her playing days at Northwestern and with the USA National Team, Dowd is expected to bring a fast and exciting new brand of lacrosse to Oregon. Dowd took over at the helm of the Ducks after spending four seasons as the offensive coordinator and draw specialist coach at North Carolina, helping the Tar Heels to national championships titles in both 2013 and 2016.

"My philosophy is to teach the game with passion and belief," Dowd said at her introductory press conference. "At the core that's about player development and team chemistry. We're going to attract the best student-athletes, provide them a one-of-a-kind student-athlete experience and compete at the highest level, with the ultimate goal of winning national championships."

Dowd filled her coaching staff with familiar faces and impressive resumes, bringing on Becca Block and Michelle Tumolo as assistant coaches. Dowd has played with both Block and Tumolo on the USA National Team, and coached them both as an assistant at Syracuse in 2013 when the two were seniors. Block will coordinate the Ducks' defense, while Tumolo will focus on the offensive side.

LACROSSE TO BECOME PAC-12 SPORT IN 2018
The Pac-12 Conference will add women's lacrosse for the 2018 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 the minimum number to qualify (6) for a conference championship and NCAA tournament automatic-qualifying bid.