Overtime Heartbreaker in Michigan

Sunday, February 28

Mount Pleasant, MI

8:30 AM

University of Oregon

0-4

Central Michigan

2-1

Oregon

Central Michigan

Photo by: Samuel Marshall

02/28/21 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

By: Nate Krueger

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — The Oregon women's lacrosse team put together its most complete performance so far this season on Sunday morning, but the Ducks came up just short in the bid for their first win of 2021 as Central Michigan escaped with a 12-11 overtime victory at the CMU Lacrosse Complex.

How it Happened: After managing just four goals – all from Hanna Hilcoff – in Friday's loss at Marquette, the Ducks (0-4) found the net seven times in the first period on Sunday to take a one-goal lead into halftime.

Freshman attacker Lindsay Clarke made her first career start and opened the scoring for Oregon with her first goal 10 minutes into the game. Hilcoff scored shortly after before Clarke followed with her second score of the day, tying the game at 3-3 midway through the first half.

Central Michigan answered with a goal to go up 4-3, but the Ducks rattled off four straight to take a 7-4 lead before the Chippewas cut it to 7-6 by halftime. Freshman Morgan McCarthy scored back-to-back goals to fuel UO's 4-0 run, sandwiched between goals from veterans Shonly Wallace and Lillian Stump.

The Ducks and Chippewas traded goals to a 9-9 tie early in the second half before Central Michigan scored twice in four minutes to take an 11-9 advantage. The Ducks pulled even again with back-to-back goals from Stump and Hilcoff, giving each player a hat trick in the game. It was a defensive battle for the rest of regulation, with senior Alle Dunbar picking up a save to keep the game tied and send Oregon to overtime for the first time since April 2019.

Oregon appeared for a moment to have a game-winner from McCarthy in the first three minutes of overtime, but the goal was waved off because of a dangerous follow through. The Ducks were able to hold off the Chippewas while being a player down for a couple minutes after the penalty, but Central Michigan found the back of the net with 34 seconds remaining in overtime to escape with the win.

Who Stood Out: Stump and Hilcoff each recorded a hat trick with three goals apiece, and both Clarke and McCarthy added two goals. Clarke also dished out an assist to finish with three total points, and Wallace had a goal and an assist. Dunbar finished with 11 saves in net, and junior captain Logan Gierke racked up a career-high five caused turnovers to become the first Duck since March 2017 with four or more caused turnovers in a game. Gierke also led Oregon with six total ground balls.

Notable: Stump recorded her first hat trick of the season and seventh of her career, while Hilcoff recorded three goals or more for the second straight game and sixth time in her career … Hilcoff has now scored multiple goals in 10 of her first 11 career games … Clarke and McCarthy each scored multiple goals for the first time in their careers … Gierke forced multiple turnovers and grabbed five or more ground balls for the first time in her career … Dunbar notched double-digit saves for the third time this season and sixth in her career … Dating back to the 2020 season finale, Dunbar has 57 total saves over her last five games.

Up Next: Oregon will be off from competition next week before returning to action on March 12 at Colorado and March 14 at No. 14 Denver.