Last Homestand for LAX Begins Friday
EUGENE – The Oregon women’s lacrosse team will honor its five seniors this weekend when the Ducks host their final two games of the season at Papé Field. UO will first face off against USC on Friday before entertaining California on Sunday. Both games are slated for a 1 p.m. first draw on the Pac-12 Networks.
Jason Knapp and Kara Lentz will have the call on Friday when the Ducks and Trojans square off at Papé Field. Christian Miles and Julianne Viani will then take over the broadcast for Sunday’s match up versus California on senior day for the Ducks.
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ONCE A DUCK, ALWAYS A DUCK
Prior to Sunday’s showdown with the Golden Bears, the Oregon women’s lacrosse program will honor its five seniors on the field. The 2015 graduating class includes: Olivia Pyne, Hayley Milner, Raleigh Cavey, Casey Brogan and Devon Frazer. Between the five seniors, they have played 305 combined games, scored 201 goals, 58 assists, 173 groundballs, 180 draw controls and 113 caused turnovers.
The seniors have also excelled in the classroom, earning three IWLCA Honor Roll distinctions and eight MPSF All-Academic team recognitions. All five are either graduating with a second major, minor or honors distinction, while three of the five seniors rock a 3.5 G.P.A. or better.
IN THE LIMELIGHT
The next three games for Oregon will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks. The first two will be at home against USC and California while the third and final game on the network will be when UO squares off against Stanford, who is currently ranked No. 13 in the IWLCA polls as of March 30, 2015.
BE THE ONE FOR CHANGE
Oregon’s game on Friday against USC will be dedicated to The Yeardley Reynolds Love Foundation. The Ducks will be raffling off special items as well as selling t-shirts to raise money for the foundation.
The Foundation is more popularly known as One Love, with “One” representing the number that Yeardley wore on her jersey during her high school and college lacrosse career.
After her death, Yeardley’s family and friends were surprised to learn the statistics – that 1 in 3 women in this country will be in a violent relationship during her lifetime – and grew increasingly aware that young people in particular did not seem to realize that they, as a group, were at greatest risk.
Today, One Love’s ambitious goal is to end relationship violence by educating, empowering and activating young people in a movement for social change. One Love develops creative technology-based tools and resources that meet young people where they are and inspire them to action
DUCK REPORT
Through 11 games, Oregon has outscored its opponents 137-87 while outshooting its opponents 315-180 with 75 percent of shots coming on goal. Olivia Pyne has a narrow lead in goals with 23 (30 points) while Carly O'Connell slightly edges Pyne with 32 points (21g, 11a). Cambi Cukar (5g, 23a), Holly Johnson (15g, 9a), Hayley Milner (19g, 4a) and Courtney Valdez (16g, 4a) round out the 20-point scorers for Oregon.
Oregon’s 9.18 caused turnovers per game place them just outside the top-25 at No. 26 and third in the conference. The current team total of 202 ranks 17th in the country and second in the MPSF to San Diego State.
The UO defense is 15th in the nation, with opponents averaging 7.91 goals a game against the Ducks. On the flipside, Oregon is 25th in scoring offense with 12.45 goals per game, and 22nd when it comes to scoring margin (4.55).
Cukar’s 23 assists so far this season ranks her sixth in the country and also leads the nation while her 2.09 assists per game is good for 11th in the nation and second in the conference. Cukar’s knack for finding her teammate has been a great relief after the loss of Oregon’s all-time assists leader, Shannon Propst, to graduation.
Janelle Parker is second in the conference with an 8.76 goals against average behind only to USC’s Gussie Johns (7.70).
MOVIN’ ON UP
Carly O'Connell has now propelled herself to second all-time in draw controls at Oregon with 161, trailing only current assistant coach Jen May Derby (209). She’s also fourth all-time in the all-time assists leaderboard with 67 and recently cracked the top-10 in caused turnovers with 47.
Cukar, who has 23 assists so far in her freshman campaign is just 16 shy of breaking into the top-10 in Oregon’s all-time assist leaderboard. Senior Casey Brogan is eighth on the all-time list in draw controls with 84.
WOMEN OF TROY
USC is off to its best start in its short three-year history as a program. The Trojans recently had its seven game win-streak snapped the second-ranked Eagles of Boston College. In conference play, USC has defeated Fresno State (17-6), California (18-5) and Saint Mary’s (20-7) by double-digit goals.
The last time the two teams met, Oregon sent USC home after a 7-6 win in the quarterfinal round of the MPSF Tournament held in Denver, Colo., to give the Ducks the 2-1 lead in the all-time series.
Caroline De Lyra leads the Women of Troy with 42 points (21g, 21a) while Michaela Michael and Amanda Johansen leads the team with 26 goals apiece. Kylie Drexel (12) and Caroline Cordrey (12) rounds out the double-digit goal scorers for USC. De Lyra, who was named the MPSF Offensive Player of the Week back on Feb. 9, has been a sharpshooter for USC on the field with a .724 shooting percentage and an .862 shots on goal percentage.
In the draw circle, Michael leads the team with 64 on the year while Johansen is second on the squad with 30.
Defensively Gussie Johns commands the USC defense from the cage, having started all 10 games for the Trojans and has stopped 37 balls to 70 goals allowed for a goals against average of 7.70 in 545:43 minutes of action. Johns is also atop the groundball category for the Trojans with 26, while five other players are the double-digit range. The USC defense has been consistent from their top players with Courtney Tarleton standing out on top with 11 caused turnovers.
BEAR NECESSITIES
On Sunday, when the Ducks and Golden Bears square off, the Oregon underclassmen hope to send their seniors off with a win in their final home game of their UO career. Cal and Oregon have battled back-and-forth in series history, with the Ducks holding a slight 8-7 lead thanks to a 16-7 victory in Berkeley last year behind Nikki Puszcz’s five goals.
Heading into Sunday’s match up, Cal is 2-8 and 1-2 in conference play. The Golden Bears have also played a pair of ranked opponents in then-No. 12 Notre Dame and then-No. 11 Princeton. To compare similar opponents, Oregon dismantled Saint Mary’s 21-3 while Cal defeated the Gaels 18-10. The Ducks battled George Washington to the bitter end with an 8-6 victory at Papé Field while the Golden bears downed the Presidents on the road 15-11.
Bella Huther, last year’s points and goals leader, once again leads the Golden Bears in both categories with 25 points (20g, 5a). Gaby Christman also returns for Cal and currently second on the team with 22 points (18g, 4a) while Sasha Anielski is third on the team with 20 points (16g, 4a). Lizz Lavie has been the point person for the Golden Bear offense with a team-leading 13 assists.
On the other side of the ball, Michele DeVincent tops the team with 15 groundballs while Chloe Landry leads the team with 21 draw controls. Christman is not only a force on the offensive end of the ball for Cal, but also a force on the defensive end with team-high 13 caused turnovers.
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.
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.
