Coach of the Year Larsen Leads No. 2 Seeded Ducks into MPSF Tourney
This Week: MPSF Coach of the Year Jen Larsen leads the Ducks into the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament as the No. 2 seed, where they will face the winner of the match between No. 3 seeded Stanford and No. 6 seeded Saint Mary’s on Saturday at 5 p.m.
MPSF Honors Announced: Larsen was named Coach of the Year by her peers within the conference and four Ducks were named to the All-Conference Team, Commissioner Al Beaird announced Thursday evening at the pre-tournament banquet.
In her third year since building the program, Larsen is having her finest year as a head coach thus far, bettering the team’s record each season from the previous year, culminating with this season’s 11-6 record. Her Oregon Ducks began this year with an upset of then-No. 16 ranked Stanford, the first time they’d ever defeated the Cardinal, and showed their newfound strength by posting a 4-1 record in conference play.
A native of Doylestown, Pa., Larsen attributes much of the program’s success to assistant coaches Robert Bray and Beth Ames, who have both been with the Ducks since before the program’s inaugural season. Larsen was a two-sport star at the Virginia, captaining both the lacrosse and field hockey teams.
Larsen and her lacrosse teammates won the NCAA championship in 1993 and finished as runner-up in 1996. Larsen graduated from Virginia in 1996 with a degree in psychology.
Four of her Ducks were named to the 2007 MPSF All-Conference Team, including senior transfer Brooke Dieringer, junior Jen May, and sophomores Alicia Burkhart and Ilsa van den Berg.
Dieringer brought her All-American pedigree to Oregon from the University of North Carolina and preceded to have the finest year of her career, scoring 30 goals and tallying 40 points on the year.
Co-captain May currently sits tops all-time at Oregon with 133 career points, including 21 goals and 17 assists in 2007. Burkhart has had one of the best defensive years for Oregon, causing 19 turnovers and leading the team with 39 ground balls.
Van den Berg continues to be a tremendous force on the attacking end, leading the team with 46 points (28 G, 18 A).
Scouting the Tourney: The Denver Pioneers enter as the favorite to win the tournament and the holder of the No. 1 seed after escaping against California, 14-12 to end their season a perfect 5-0 in the MPSF. The Pioneers seemed to be running away with the conference, but the close match against the Golden Bears seems to say otherwise. The two could match up again in the second round.
The No. 3 seed Stanford Cardinal enter the tournament off of a disappointing season that saw them go 3-2 in the conference and 6-8 overall. The Cardinal have been up and down all year and come into the tournament off of a loss to Boston after two conference wins over California and UC Davis.
California enters the tournament as the No. 4 seed after a 2-3 conference season. The Bears surprised the conference last week by almost defeating top-seeded Denver in their last game of the year and they could be a dangerous team in the tournament.
UC Davis and St. Mary’s come into the tournament as the bottom two seeds, looking for redemption and with respect within the conference.
Ducks in the Tourney: Last year, the Ducks finished their year with an upset of California in the consolation match of the tournament to take 3rd place. The Ducks hosted the tournament last year but hope they can continue their success of the regular season on the road in the tournament. This year marks the first time the Ducks have had a first round bye and they will only have to play two games in two days instead of three games in three days.
FOLLOW THE TOURNAMENT: Fans can follow the tournament on the web site of the host UC Davis, UCDavisAggies.com.
LISTEN TO THE DUCKS’ MATCHES: The matches will be available on the radio locally on KWVA, FM 88.1, with John Strong calling the play-by-play.
For complete weekly release, see the downloads section.
