SEATTLE ? The University of Oregon women’s soccer team weathered a stormy first half and answered with two, second half goals in its 4-2 loss against the semi-pro Seattle Sounders Sunday at the Starfire Soccer Complex.
The Sounders jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening 30 minutes, but were held scoreless the remainder of the game.
Forward Kami Kapaku scored Oregon’s first goal at approximately the 50-minute mark courtesy of an assist by midfielder Sabrina DeMonte. The Ducks’ second score came near the 80-minute mark by forward Nicole Garbin on an assist by Kapkau. Both goals came close to the goal as the Ducks slipped in behind the defense and slotted the ball into the net.
“Today seemed like two entirely different games,” Oregon head coach Tara Erickson said. “They took it to us early, but in the second half we were able to put them back on their half of the field. They had all their good players so we probably had too much respect for them early. Once we changed our attitude and work rate, we quickly gained confidence and played much better.”
The Ducks had several other opportunities later in the game, including a breakaway chance by Garbin who misplayed the ball on the artificial field turf and dribbled it over the end line.
“Two players I thought that played awesome were Cristan Higa and Caitlin Gamble,” Erickson said. “They played consistently the whole time, while most of the other Oregon players weren’t so great in the first half, but then turned it on in the second. Higa especially did an awesome job on Michelle French, a former All-American at Portland. She hung in there the whole time and also did a good job connecting our defense to our attack. Caitlin created a lot of opportunities as a wide midfielder. In goal, Emily Marrer came and played the entire second half and didn’t allow any goals, and made the most of her minutes.”
More info on the Sounders is available at the www.seattlesounders.net website.
Looking ahead, the Ducks wrap up their spring season at Oregon State for an exhibition in Corvallis, Fri., May 13 at 4 pm. More info on the game may be posted at the www.OSUbeavers.com website.
“Even though we lost, today brought us back to the reality that we need to get after it a little more in practice,” Erickson said. “The talent on the Seattle team will be as good as any we’ll play this fall. Now we can focus on Oregon State and have a great chance to improve on several things that we know we have to work on. Our players learned first-hand today that a lot of it comes down to hard work. During the first 45 minutes we didn’t impose ourselves on the other team. In the second half, the difference wasn’t so much tactical, but more just plain hard work.”
The Ducks’ five-game 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 23 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.
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