Ducks in Denver with Title at Stake
This Week: With a regular season conference title on the line, the Ducks (11-5, 4-0 MPSF) face the No. 17 Denver Pioneers (12-2, 3-0 MPSF) at Noon (PDT) on Saturday, April 21 in Denver, Colo. The match will mark the last regular season match for the Ducks and will determine their seeding in the conference tournament.
Scouting Denver: The Pioneers’ only losses have come at the hands of Duke (currently ranked #3) and Johns Hopkins (currently #7). They are led by last year’s MPSF Player of the Year, senior Kristie Leggio, who also earned an All-Regional First Team honor in 2006. Leggio has 50 goals on the year as well as 33 assists. Freshman Ali Flury has been a force as well for the Pioneers in her first year, tallying 47 goals and 11 assists. Denver has outscored their opponents 238-132 on the year so far, an almost two-to-one ratio per game.
Ducks vs. Pioneers: Oregon has never defeated the Pioneers in three opportunities. Despite Alison Leiner’s school-record tying six goal barrage in 2006, the Ducks fell 14-13, thanks to a couple of late stops by Pioneer goalkeeper Becky Childs. Leiner has been only the second most sucessful Duck against DU however, as Jana Bradley has nine career goals scored against last year’s conference runner-up versus Leiner’s seven. Leiner and Bradley are tied for the lead in points against Denver with 10, however. The only other Duck with more than two goals is Erin Gaebe, who has three.
WATCH THE MATCH: The match will be webcast on Denver’s official website, www.denverpioneers.com.
LISTEN TO THE MATCH: The match will also be available on the radio locally on KWVA, FM 88.1, with John Strong calling the play-by-play. The broadcast will be simulcast on www.kwvaradio.org.
Bradley wins POTW: Junior attacker Jana Bradley was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week, after the Encinitas, Calif., native recorded two hat tricks over the weekend, leading the Ducks to two huge conference wins.
Bradley’s three goals against California came in pouring rain and helped the Ducks to their first-ever win on the road against California as they defeated the Golden Bears, 16-10.
Against Saint Mary’s, Bradley scored two of the goals in the nine goal Oregon run to open the game and tallied her third of the game with 12:08 remaining in the second half as the Ducks rolled to he victory over the Gaels, 15-7.
The six goals accounts for one-third of her season total (18) and one-fourth of her season points to date (24).
Three for Thirty?: For the first time in school history, the Ducks have three players within striking distance of 30 goals in a single season:
Brooke Dieringer - 29 goals
Ilsa van den Berg - 28 goals
Kate Fleming - 26 goals
First Duck in the NCAA Record Book: Brooke Dieringer’s three-goal barrage in 1:03 at the end of the Georgetown game earlier in the season has been confirmed as the record for fastest hat trick by the NCAA stats group and will appear in next year’s record book.
100 goal Countdown: Speaking of Dieringer, the senior transfer from North Carolina is within striking distance of the prestigious mark of 100 goals in a career. Currently, the Davidsonville, Md. native has 94 goals in her career. With her next goal, she will surpass her career high for goals in a single season. Here’s how her numbers breakdown:
2003 - 20G (UNC)
2004 - 16G (UNC)
2005 - Redshirt year (UNC)
2006 - 29G (UNC)
2007 - 29G (UO)
Dieringer reached the 100-point plateau against the Colgate Raiders on Sat., March 17. She currently has 120 points in her career.
May I as Well? Junior Jen May eclipsed the 100 point mark against Georgetown on March 2 and currently has 130 points in her career, with a balanced spread of 89 goals and 41 assists.
Other Ducks Flocking Toward 100: Jana Bradley currently sits at exactly 100 points (82 G, 18 A) in her career, while others are within striking distance of the milestone, including:
Alison Leiner - 94 points (45 G, 49 A)
Kate Fleming - 87 points (72 G, 14 A)
Theresa Waldron - 86 points (39 G, 47 A)
Ilsa Van den Berg - 85 points (59 G, 26 A)
Lindsay Killian - 76 points (58 G, 18 A)
Now That’s a Program: With their victory over Saint Mary’s, the Ducks won their 11th game of the season, a new school record. Oregon has now improved their record every season since it’s inception under head coach Jen Larsen:
2005: 6-11 (1-4 MPSF)
2006: 10-9 (4-3 MPSF)
2007: 11-5 (4-0 MPSF) - 2+ games remain
.500 and Beyond: With their win over Colgate, the Ducks program record moved to 23-23 (.500) for the first time since its inception in 2005. After their two big conference wins, the Ducks program record is 27-25.
