Oregon lacrosse hit the road to take on Monmouth at a neutral site in Fresno, California, and lost 15-7 Saturday afternoon. The Ducks made a late rally to try to close the gap, but were unable to overcome an early deficit.
The game was the first ever meeting between Oregon (6-2) and Monmouth (5-3).
Oregon freshman goalie Janelle Parker was asked to do a lot in the game, and despite picking up the loss she put together a solid performance. Parker ended with a career-high 13 saves.
The problem for the Ducks was on offense, where they found themselves having trouble converting shots they usually make. Though they did score the opening goal, via senior Olivia Pyne off a Cambi Cukar assist, the Hawks were able to quickly answer.
Leading the way for Monmouth was a familiar name — Olivia Higson. Entering the match Higson paced her team with 11 points on the year (10 goals, 1 assist). Against the Ducks she picked up right where she left off, scoring two goals and collecting two assists.
Joining in on the impressive stat line was Higson’s teammate, midfielder Allison Stathius. She was able to launch seven shots on goal, converting four. She also finished with an assist of her own.
Heading into halftime Oregon found itself behind 4-1, trailing by six in total shots. This marks the first time this season the Ducks have trailed at the break.
In the second half things began to look up for Oregon after Holly Johnson was able to find Rachel Steinberg, cutting the lead to 6-3 with 19:50 left to play. Rather than allow the opposition to claw back into the game, Monmouth went on a four goal run in seven minutes to push aside any chance for a comeback.
Oregon enjoyed balanced scoring in the game, with all seven goals coming from different players.
The next game on the schedule for the Ducks will once again be played in Fresno, this time against Fresno State. The match is set to begin at 4 p.m. on Monday.
Follow Christopher Keizur on Twitter @chriskeizur