The Oregon soccer team fell to the Washington Huskies 2-0 Thursday in Seattle. With the loss, Oregon drops to 7-9-2 and 2-6-2 in the Pac-12. The Huskies improve to 10-6-2 and 3-5-1 in the conference.
Going into the game, the Ducks were looking to right their ship with a win. Three wins to end the year would have made a disappointing season easier to swallow, but the Huskies’ offensive attack was too much to handle.
Turning point. Using a 4-4-2 offensive attack, the Huskies were active with the ball early. In the 20th minute the Huskies converted a defensive mistake by Abby Steele@@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=237&SPSID=4315@@ into their first goal. A Husky player had the ball in the box near the goal line, and when Steele dove to make a save, she passed to a teammate who easily netted the ball.
Seventeen minutes later, junior Lindsay Elston@@http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/elston_lindsay00.html@@ got her team-leading 9th goal of the season with a strong shot from 22 yards out. Steele went for the save but couldn’t get there in time.
“We came out trying to adjust to the conditions and trying to gain our footing in slippery ground,” head coach Tara Erickson@@checked@@ said of the offensive scheme. “We came out defensively trying to adjust to Washington midfield. They run a 4-4-2 and have a lot of numbers in the middle of the field, so we were working hard to adjust defensively.”
Aside from the strong offense of Washington, the Ducks also struggled against a stingy defense, losing the shots on goal battle 14-9. The closest opportunity came on shot by Scout Libke@@checked@@ in the second half.
On the horizon.The Ducks will look to rebound from the loss on Sunday when they play the Washington State Cougars at noon in Pullman. Their final game will be on Friday, Nov. 2 at 4 p.m. at Pape Field where they will take on state rivals OSU.