Soccer Looks Forward to Spring Opener
The three-team tournament will feature three, 11 x 11 games between Western Oregon and Concordia. Admission is free to the public, and each contest will feature two, 30-minute halves (game times follow):
- 10 am ? Western Oregon vs. Oregon
- 1 pm ? Western Oregon vs. Concordia
- 4 pm ? Oregon vs. Concordia
Sunday marks the first game for new Duck coach Tara Erickson who joined the program at the end of January after four seasons as head coach at Portland State. She inherited a PSU program that had gone 0-18 the year before her arrival in 2001, and quickly turned the Vikings into one of the Big Sky Conference’s best. She is best known for the 2002 season when PSU to the Big Sky Championships final, went 13-5-4 overall, and led the league in scoring and fewest goals allowed. After the season she was tabbed Big Sky Coach of the Year and Soccer Buzz West Region Coach of the Year Runner-up.
“We’re really looking forward to Sunday,” Oregon head coach Tara Erickson said. “It’s our first, full-speed, game situation where we can assess ourselves against an unfamiliar team, not just teammates. (When I was at Portland State), we scrimmaged Western Oregon before, and both games were fairly physical. I know both opposing teams will be to give their best against a Division 1 and Pac-10 program.”
The Ducks’ five-game spring season preludes its 10th fall varsity season in 2005. Erickson welcomes back one of UO’s deeper rosters of talent that returns nine starters and 21 letterwinners. Two of the team’s top all-time scorers, redshirt senior Nicole Garbin and Andrea Valadez, return with senior goalkeeper Domenique Lainez. Last season’s squad weathered an injury-plagued 3-13-3 season (and 0-7-2 mark in the Pac-10), but features most of the talent from a ’03 team that notched program records for overall wins (9) and conference wins (3).
“We’ve been together practicing together for barely three weeks, so we’re just getting started,” Erickson said. “The team has been enthusiastic in the transition, and their level of practice has risen with their confidence. Strategically, we’ll probably play out of a 4-4-2 this week more for simplicity’s sake since that’s what they’re used to. We want to evolve and mature into other formations by the fall, but it’s a starting point. On the other end, we’re working on defending less individually with our backs and more as a unit, and we’re hoping it shows this week. You can tell a lot of the players are still a little nervous in the transition, but they’re getting more comfortable step by step.”
Western Oregon heads to Eugene after compiling a 6-13-1 record in 2004, and head coach Rod Fretz returns for his ninth season next fall with a 75-95-7 record. Top returning scorers for the Wolves from 2004 include junior forward-midfielder Amy Weberg (5 goals, 2 assists, 27 shots, 11 SOG), junior defender Amy McManamin (3 goals, 16 shots, 5 shots on goal), sophomore forward-midfielder Becky Myrold (3 goals, 3 assists, 43 shots, 24 SOG) and sophomore defender Chesney McHan (2 goals, 3 assists, 22 shots, 8 SOG). Senior goalkeeper Amanda Nelson played 1142 minutes last fall, started 11 of 15 games, had a 1.58 goals allowed average, claimed 72 saves and allowed 20 goals. Also in ’04, sophomore back-up Ally Meyer played 712 minutes in her two starts and 13 outings, came up with 44 saves, allowed 23 goals, and had a 2.91 GAA. More team info is located at the http://www.wouwolves.com/soc website.
Concordia has advanced to the NAIA Tournament final four the past two seasons, and lost in the 2004 championship to Lindsey Wilson College, 2-0. Head coach Grant Landy looks forward to his ninth season at the Portland, Ore., institution next fall, and his squads have made four straight NAIA tournament appearances. The squad graduated 2004 NAIA Player of the Year Caitie Davidson and fellow All-American Amy Jackson, but returns a trio of Cascade Conference All-Stars in juniors Whitney Lilly (defender - first team ’04, second team ’03) and Jennifer Hughes (midfielder - first team ’04), and sophomore Kerry Lane (second team ’04). Hughes ranks fourth all-time in school history both in goals in a season (19, 2004) and game (3, 2004). Last fall, junior goalkeeper and Eugene native Lela Mansfield posted 12 shutouts ? third-most in school history ? and also had the school’s second-lowest ever goals against average (0.64). More team info is located at the http://athletics.cu-portland.edu/wsoccer website.
After this weekend, the Ducks have three more away spring dates in the Pacific Northwest:
- Sat.-Sun., April 23-24 - Washington State 7-A-Side Classic, Pullman, Wash. (30-min. 7 x 7), All Day
- Sun., May 8 - Seattle Sounders, Seattle, Wash., 3 pm
- Fri., May 13 - Oregon State, Corvallis, 4 pm.
“This weekend is the first of several stepping stones towards the fall,” Erickson said. “We’ve had three weeks to assess our talent and see the potential for the fall. The players have had a great attitude so far adopting to a new environment and culture. We’re still in the process of raising practice expectations tactically and our work rate, but we’re progressing the right direction. Specifically, we’ve been able to give them a lot of feedback and concrete suggestions on things they can improve on.”
Looking ahead to the fall, the Ducks open their 2005 regular season at Pape’ Field in a home tournament, and first face Eastern Washington, Fri., Aug. 26. They return on Sun., Aug. 28 to take on LSU in the tourney finale.
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