The Ducks fell to the No. 19 California Golden Bears 2-0 Friday in Berkeley, Calif.
The Golden Bears came out strong, scoring at the eight-minute mark, off a penalty kick by Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick@@http://www.calbears.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/fitzpatrick_kaitlyn00.html@@, and then again at the 36-minute mark with a goal by freshman forward Celeste Boureille@@http://www.calbears.com/sports/w-soccer/recaps/092812aaa.html@@. With this victory, the Golden Bears improve to 8-4-0, 1-1-0 in Pac-12, while the Ducks drop to 5-4-2 and remain winless in conference play.
After BYU dealt the Ducks a crushing loss at Pape Field on Monday, the Ducks were in need of a statement game and, more importantly, to stay afloat in the Pac-12 standings.
This was not that game. Their sloppy play in the first half proved too detrimental. They rallied in the final 45 minutes with strong defense but had already dug themselves too big a hole to end up victorious. Their problem continues to be generating offense, as opposing teams lock in on freshman goal-machine Kristen Parr@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205693739@@, and the Ducks have trouble creating scoring chances. Bri Pugh@@same link@@ was most aggressive tonight with three shot attempts, and Parr, the leading scorer, only attempted a single shot.
The road ahead doesn’t get any easier with the Ducks playing No. 2 Stanford, the defending champs, Sunday in Palo Alto, Calif. The Ducks will look to be more aggressive on both ends and look to harness some of that energy they regularly receive from the home crowd at Pape Field to try to get a win on the road in what would be a shocking upset of the Cardinal.