As Season Dawns, Ducks Look To Continue Preseason Progress

Traditionally, the Oregon soccer team caps its offseason with a light scrimmage known as a captain's practice. Held a couple days before the official start to preseason training camp, there are no coaches on hand; players count off by twos, the ball is touched and away they go.

Traditionally, the captain's practice is a relaxed workout, one last scrimmage before the rigors of the regular season. And traditionally, it's a low-scoring affair. But there was nothing traditional about this year's captain's practice for the Ducks.

"As soon as we stepped on the field, everyone was just zoned in, ready to go, ready to play," senior forward Marissa Everett said. "I didn't want it to end."

The Oregon soccer team opens its regular season at Papé Field on Friday, when the Ducks host Stony Brook at 7 p.m. In their sixth year under coach Kat Mertz, the UO women are intent upon breaking through for their first NCAA Tournament berth. For a team that has always found goal-scoring to be the biggest road block on the way to that fulfilling that dream, preseason results have the Ducks feeling encouraged entering Friday's opener.

A week ago, Oregon went on the road to face Portland State in a scrimmage. The Ducks, who scored more than two goals in a game three times all last season, won 5-0, and had a 36-1 advantage in shots.

That might have been surprising to read, about a team that last scored as many as five goals in a counting game in 2010. But it wasn't to the Ducks — not after their eye-opening captain's scrimmage prior to the start of training camp.

"Usually when we do those, we don't score too many goals," junior defender Alyssa Hinojosa said. "But this time we got about six in the back. And each team scored, too.

"After the practice, I got little goosebumps. Scoring that many, in a practice that was just for fun? I looked back and was like, 'Wow, I think we have something going for us. Something different.' "

It helps that the Ducks, who went 8-11 overall in 2017 and 2-9 in the Pac-12, return their two leading scorers from last fall. Everett had five goals and 14 points as a junior, and fellow 2018 senior Kyra Fawcett added four goals, on just 14 shots.

Everett, who is already top-10 in career scoring at Oregon, said she wants to improve her defensive abilities as a senior, and her play off the ball. But her main focus is unchanged entering Friday's season-opener.

"I want to score goals," she said. "I want to lead in goals, I want to lead in assists. I just want to be that attacking threat."

Based on the scrimmage at Portland State, she won't be alone. Everett scored twice that day, but three other Ducks scored as well, and freshman Zoe Hasenauer added three assists to go with her goal.

"She's a huge talent for our team," Everett said.

The Ducks didn't leave their offense in Portland, either. In practice this past weekend, "we saw some crazy shots that we hadn't seen in a while," senior goalkeeper Halla Hinriksdottir said.

"It makes me really excited," said Hinriksdottir, the anchor of a veteran back end that also includes Hinojosa and senior Jazmin Jackmon. "Obviously playing in the Pac-12 we're going to go against players who have amazing feet and can strike the ball. It makes us better as a unit, going against players like Marissa and Kyra in training."

Hinriksdottir said the encouraging preseason captain's scrimmage followed an overnight trip by the team to the Oregon Coast. Players were exhausted from the excursion, and questioning whether they should try to squeeze in the scrimmage.

"We decided to leave early, go home and nap, come back and kick some butt," Hinriksdottir said. "And that's what we did. It was amazing to see.

"It was very exciting to see everyone on the field, everyone having fun, and making the most of it. Everyone was getting excited for the season."

It's tradition for the captain's practice to be one last priming of the pump before Oregon enters training camp. It hadn't been tradition for the practice to be so competitive, or high-scoring — or memorable.

"Practices are more fun when you score," Everett said. "It's been fun; it's been a lot of fun."

On Friday night, the Ducks will look to keep the good times rolling, into the start of the 2018 season.