Spring Break Road Trip Begins For LAX
EUGENE – Riding a four-game winning streak, the Oregon women’s lacrosse team will now hit the road for a four-game road trip during spring break. The Ducks’ first stop will be in Fresno, Calif., where they will take on Monmouth at noon (PT) on Saturday in a neutral-site match before taking on Fresno State at 4 p.m. on Monday, March 23.
TOPS IN THE NATION
Oregon is ranked in the top-25 in seven different categories as of March 17. The Ducks are third in the nation when it comes to scoring defense (5.86), seventh in scoring margin (7.57), 14th in win percentage (.857), 19th in groundballs per game (18.71), 21st in points (141) and scoring offense (13.43) and 25th in caused turnovers (9.43). Of the seven categories, UO leads the conference in groundballs per game, points, scoring defense and scoring margin.
Cambi Cukar’s 16 assists is tops in the conference and good for seventh in the nation, while her 2.29 assists per game ranks her 10th in the nation. In the cage, Janelle Parker is seventh amongst keepers across the nation with a 6.30 goals against average and second in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
SCOUTING THE HAWKS
At noon on Saturday, March 21, Oregon and Monmouth will face off for the first in program history. The Hawks enter Saturday's matchup 3-3 overall and is on a three-game losing streak, all of which have come at home.
Olivia Higson leads Monmouth with 11 points on the year (10g, 1a), while Marial Pierce (7g, 3a) and Emily Barbieri (4g, 6a) are tied for second with 10 points apiece. Pierce paces the Hawks’ defense with 16 groundballs, while her, Claudia LaMarca and Kristina Vangeli are tied with seven caused turnovers. Allison Stathius (17) and Vangeli (16) account for 33 of the team’s 54 groundballs.
Katie Donohoe captains the Monmouth defense with an 8.61 goals against average, stopping 36 of the 113 shots she’s faced. Donohoe is 2-3 on the year, while Caroline Huelster is 1-0 with a 4.11 GAA in 58:22 minutes of action in the cage.
A LOOK AT THE BULLDOGS
Oregon and Fresno State are slated to play at 4 p.m. on Monday, March 23, as the two square off in an MPSF match up. FS is 2-6 on the season and 0-3 in conference play. Fresno State and Monmouth are scheduled to battle it out on March 19 at 7 p.m. before the Ducks and Hawks play on Saturday. UO leads the all-time series 7-0.
The Bulldogs are riding a three-game losing streak with their last win coming against Cambell (13-11) on March 4. Fresno State’s only other win came against Gardner-Webb on the road, 20-6.
Caro Dineen-Carlson paces the Bulldog offense with 20 points (19g, 1a), a .906 shots on goal percentage, 10 groundballs, 17 draw controls and five caused turnovers. Anjelica Fucillo is next on the FS roster with 15 points (9g, 6a). Marcy Levatino is next with 14 points (10g, 4a) while Kleigh Westgarth (10g, 2a) and Nicole Ortlieb (10g, 1a) round out the double-digit points scorer with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Natalie Chaffin has predominantly been the general on defense sporting a 1-4 record in the cage for FS with a 15.17 goals against average while Meganne Weissenfels is 1-2 on the year with a 13.94 GAA.
SCHARKEY EARNS DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Ali Scharkey was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation’s Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, March 16, as announced by the conference. Scharkey totaled 10 groundballs, four draw controls and a pair of caused turnovers in her return to the lineup for UO. This is the first weekly conference honor for the Yorba Linda, Calif., native and the second conference honor for Oregon this season.
Scharkey rejuvenated the Oregon defense in her return to the lineup, and helped the Ducks cause 22 turnovers against George Washington, Robert Morris and Richmond. In her first game back, Scharkey tied her career-high in groundballs with six against George Washington to help Oregon fend off a physical GW team for the 8-6 win. Three days later, the junior captain lifted her team to a 16-4 win over Robert Morris. She picked up a pair of goals in the game to go with a caused turnover. In the 15-11 win over Richmond, Scharkey not only picked up two groundballs, but was able to grab three crucial draw controls for Oregon down the stretch when UR threatened in the second half. The three draw controls on Sunday was a career-high for the junior.
LAST TIME OUT
The Ducks went undefeated last week, going 3-0 in a five-day span. In its first game of the week, the Ducks defeated a very physical George Washington team 8-6 behind a balanced effort from both defense and offense. Two days later, Oregon was able to return the favor to Robert Morris with a 16-4 win behind Olivia Pyne’s four goals and Janelle Parker’s five saves. In their final game of the week, the Ducks grinded out a 16-11 victory against the Spiders of Richmond on the heels of Pyne’s career-high six goals.
O’CONNELL NAMED OFFENSIVE POW
Midfielder Carly O'Connell was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation’s Offensive Player of the Week after leading the Ducks to a 2-0 opening weekend. O’Connell tallied six points (4g, 2a), five groundballs, 11 draw controls and three caused turnovers over the weekend. This is the first offensive player of the week honor for O’Connell and the third weekly conference honor in total. She was named rookie of the week in back-to-back weeks as a freshman in 2013.
DUCKS ON TV
Oregon will have four of its final six games televised this season, two of which will be at home. The Ducks’ first televised match will be against USC on April 3 followed by California on April 5. UO’s string of three-straight televised matches will then conclude on the road when Oregon battles with Stanford down at The Farm on April 9. The Ducks final regular season match that will be broadcast will be on the road against Denver on the Altitude Sports Network.
Should the Ducks advance to the MPSF Tournament, all the matches in the tournament will also be broadcast on the Altitude Sports Network.
A LOOK AT THE DUCKS
Oregon returns seven of its 12 players from last year’s starting lineup for 2015. Of the seven players returning, four are coming from the offense side, including All-MPSF selection Carly O'Connell. On the defensive end, the Ducks also return all-conference honoree Ali Scharkey.
O’Connell will lead the Oregon offense this season after tying Shannon Propst for the team lead in points with 71 (32g, 39a) in 2014. Other offensive threats returning for the Ducks are Olivia Pyne (19g, 8a), Courtney Valdez (23g, 4a), Casey Brogan (20g, 5a), Devon Frazer (19g, 6a) and Bella Pyne (18g).
Despite losing Propst, Nikki Puszcz and Sami Kiser who are littered all over the Oregon record book, Jen Beck has the UO reloaded with 10 freshmen. Beck added five midfielders, three attackers and a pair of defenders after losing 10 players, six of which were seniors.
On the defensive end, the Ducks’ biggest loss came in the crease with the graduation of arguably the program’s best goalie, Caroline Federighi. The UO defense will also be without the service of Erika McCool, who had 28 groundballs to go along with 15 caused turnovers to graduation.
DUCKS PICKED FOURTH IN MPSF
Oregon was picked to finish fourth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) as voted on by the conference coaches. The Ducks garnered 53 points after posting an 11-8 overall record and a 6-3 mark conference play. The Ducks advanced to the semifinals of the MPSF Tournament before falling to the eventual championships, Denver, last season.
BECK SIGNS SEVEN TO 2016
Oregon women’s lacrosse head coach announced the signing of seven players to National Letters of Intent on during the fall signing period. The seven signees will be coming from Maryland (3), Oregon (1), California (1), New York (1) and Canada (1).
FEDERIGHI NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN
Caroline Federighi left her mark at Oregon earning Capital One Academic All-America third team honors as announced by the College Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA) on Thursday, June 5. Federighi became the first Oregon women’s lacrosse player to ever to earn Academic All-American honors. The Pleasanton, Calif., product was only one of two Division I women’s lacrosse players named to either the first, second or third team and one of eight Academic All-Americans from Pac-12 schools.
This is the third academic award Federighi has garnered this season alone, and the seventh accolade in her career at UO. The senior keeper first earned her third MPSF All-Academic team recognition and followed up with the program’s second-ever academic all-district honors in May.
