Ducks Fall 2-0 to Utah
HOW IT HAPPENED: Fresh off a huge win over Colorado on Friday night, the Ducks came out firing to open today’s contest. Kira Wagoner led the charge, putting two shots on the mark in the first four minutes. She then followed that up with another shot at the 14:43 mark, which was deflected off the post.
The first spurt of Utah offense came in the 27th minute when Paola van der Veen took her first shot of the day but was denied by keeper Lauren Holden.
The remainder of the half saw one additional shot from each team. Caitlyn Wong prevented the Utes from getting on the board in the 34th minute when she made a save off Baylee Nielsen’s kick. Miranda Schulz then put the final first half shot on goal in the 38th minute, which was saved by Utah keeper Lindsay Luke.
The Utes turned up the intensity coming out of the intermission and saw their offensive pressure pay off when van der Veen got a clean look at Holden just 90 seconds in. Her shot from 30 yards out went into the back of the net to give Utah the 1-0 lead. The Ducks tried to counter as Taylor Kuroda had a shot on goal at the 50:20 mark, but Luke was there to collect the save.
Utah then was able to extend its lead when van der Veen headed in the ball in to the left side the box at the 74:14 mark. Holden came out to try and control the ball but it got past her and Natalie Vukic was able to put the ball away on the open net. It marks just the second time this year that the Ducks have given up multiple goals to their opponent at home.
The best scoring chance for Oregon to cut the lead to one came when Kristen Parr corralled a cross in the box in the 83rd minute and sent a rifle in towards the goal. Luke was there once again to make the save as she tallied six for the match.
QUOTES:
Head Coach Kat Mertz:
On Utah’s first goal:
“I think they caught us off-guard with the first goal they had and we had some poor defending on the play. I thought Kristen Parr’s shot there at the end of the game could have changed the game. But what it comes down to is that it’s ‘Sunday soccer.’ In the NCAA Tournament, the championship game is on Sunday and we have to find a way to be able to compete on a Friday and on a Sunday. We’ve got to be able to muster up all the energy and excitement that we have on a Friday night game and bring that same enthusiasm on a Sunday game.”
On the energy level during the game:
“We came out strong and I thought we had some good services and energy. It just tailed off a little bit and we had people second-guessing themselves and being hesitant. We have to find that ‘We have to win’ mentality and gut it out.”
Senior Kira Wagoner:
On her scoring chances early on in the game:
“It’s always unfortunate when as a team, you can manage to outshoot somebody and still not have the result be what you want it to be. Having one of my early shots go in would have been nice and it would have changed the entire course of the game.
You always want to come out hard and set the tone and I was definitely going to make a statement in the first ten minutes. It’s a Sunday game and games on a Sunday are really hard on everybody so if you get a team down in the first ten minutes, it’s pretty much over.
NOTES AND NUMBERS: The Ducks outshot Utah 13-8 on the day and had six shots on goal to the Utes’ four. Oregon has outshot every opponent except Colorado on the year … With the loss, Oregon is 0-7-0 when its opponent scores first. On the other side, the Ducks are 4-0-0 when finding the back of the net first … Halla Hinriksdóttir was held out of today’s match as precautionary measure. Hinriksdóttir was slated to start against Colorado, but suffered an injury in warm-ups and was forced to sit out. She is expected to return for next weekend’s contests.
UP NEXT: The road doesn’t get any easier for the Ducks as they head to NorCal next weekend to take on two ranked opponents. Oregon will face No. 23 Cal Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. and then travel to No. 6 Stanford on Sunday for a 5 p.m. kick-off.
