Soccer Wraps Up Spring in Corvallis Friday
EUGENE ? The University of Oregon women’s soccer team will take on rival Oregon State in its final game of the spring season, Friday, May 13 at 4 pm at Paul Lorenz Field in Corvallis, Ore.
So far in their 2005 spring campaign, the Ducks have a 2-1 record in regulation play and opened the spring with a pair of home wins on Sun., April 17 over Western Oregon (6-0) and Concordia (5-0).
The following weekend they advanced a pair of evenly-divided split squads to the quarterfinals of the WSU 7-A-Side Classic in Pullman, Sat.-Sun., April 23-24 as both sported identical 5-1 records in their 7x7, 30-minute contests.
More recently last Sunday, May 8 in Seattle, the Ducks rallied from a 4-0 first-half deficit to ultimately fall, 4-2, to the semi-pro Seattle Sounders ? a squad that Duck head coach Tara Erickson said would compare talent-wise to any team the Ducks will play in the 2005 fall regular season.
So far in 2005’s three regulation 11x11 contests, Duck goal scorers include Nicole Garbin (4), Caitlin Gamble (3), Cristan Higa (2), Kami Kapaku (2) and Kaily Winther (2). Assists have been awarded to Kapaku (2), Sabrina DeMonte (1), Garbin (1), Lisa Tedford (1) and Winther (1).
Looking ahead to this weekend, the Ducks will get a change for a little revenge after they fell at home last October to Oregon State, 3-0. All-time vs. OSU in fall season action, UO is 5-3-1 in the in-state ?Civil War Sponsored By Your Northwest Dodge Dealers’ series. The Ducks beat OSU in Eugene in 1996 (2-1) and 1998 (3-0), tied in 2000 (2-2), and lost in 2002 (2-1). In Corvallis, the Ducks won in 1997 (3-1), 1999 (4-0) and 2003 (4-3 OT), and lost in 2001 (4-1).
Oregon is the fourth and final opponent on OSU's spring scheduled after the Beavers played British Columbia (4/16) and Western Washington (4/17) in Bellingham, Wash., and Portland State two weekends ago in Portland (4/29).
Last year in the Pac-10, OSU finished seventh with a 4-4-1 record, and was 10-9-1 overall. Then-freshman forward Jodie Taylor was an All-Pac-10 First Team selection and ranked first in the Pac-10 in goals per game (0.75 avg.), second in goals (15) and game-winning goals (6, 0.30 avg.), third in points (32), and fourth in shots and shots per game (64, 3.20 avg.). Then-junior Stacey Mescher ranked third in assists and assists per game (6, 0.30 avg.). Then-sophomore goalkeeper Melissa Onstad ranked second in the Pac-10 in saves per game average (4.83), third in saves (87 in 18 games), fifth in shutouts (8) and sixth in goals against average (0.96 avg.).
More info on the Beavers is available at the www.OSUbeavers.com website.
The Ducks’ four weekend spring season preludes its 10th fall varsity season in 2005. First-year head coach Tara Erickson looks forward to one of UO’s deepest rosters of talent that returns nine starters and 19 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 withstood 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).
The Ducks open the 2005 fall 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.
