Despite racing out to a three-goal lead in the opening half, it was Oregon, not Cal that had to stage a comeback in the final 12 minutes of the game for a 9-8 win in the third-place game of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament on Friday.
The win, the team’s 13th this season, sets a program record and marks the fourth straight year that the Ducks (13-7 overall) have won more games than the previous year.
Oregon’s junior attacker Ilsa van den Berg and senior midfielder Jenny Browne scored the final two goals of the game to bring Oregon from a one-goal deficit to the win. In their last game as Ducks, seniors Jen May and Jana Bradley each scored two goals to lead all scorers.
The Ducks finished in fourth place in the regular season standings, including a loss to California. The Golden Bears finished in second place during the regular season but fell to 9-9 on the season. It was the third straight season the Ducks have won the third-place game at the MPSF tournament.
Oregon led in all but one statistical category, saves, but the win was anything but easy. The physical play from California – the Golden Bears committed 35 fouls to Oregon’s 20 – made for the low-scoring game. Oregon had been averaging 13 goals per game during the tournament’s first two games and looked to be on that pace early.
Before the first 15 minutes of the first half were over, the Ducks had goals from seniors May and Bradley and junior midfielder Casey Rector to lead Cal 3-0. After allowing two straight goals, the Ducks answered with two straight of their own by junior Alicia Burkhart and Bradley.
Oregon held a 6-4 advantage at halftime, but the Golden Bears answered with three consecutive goals to open the second half and lead by one.
The Ducks saved their goals for last, with May adding a goal before van den Berg and Browne’s goals to win the game.
Because Browne’s goal came with more than six minutes left, the Ducks held off several California rallies by keeping the ball in their possession for almost the final stretch.
“Things can go any way at the end of a game,” May said. “We’ve had a lot of one goal games this year … we know how to win the close ones and I’m glad we were able to go tough for the last few minutes.”
The win was the final game in the career of eight seniors, members of the program’s first recruiting class. Three other players from that class redshirted a year and will finish next season.
May said the team usually takes a week off after each season before resuming its regular lifting and running schedule. The senior said not having that responsibility this season “hasn’t really kicked in yet.”
“I think it’s going to be really weird when the coaches come in to have us clean out our lockers but it hasn’t really seeped in that we’re not playing,” May said.
Four earn all-MPSF honors
May, juniors Alicia Burkhart and Ilsa van den Berg and freshman Alex Breiner were named to all-MPSF honors on Friday.
The three upperclassmen were named to the league’s 17-member all-league team. It is May’s fourth such honor, while both Burkhart and van den Berg have been named to the team twice.
Breiner shared the MPSF Newcomer of the Year award with Denver midfielder Tulley Stapp and Stanford midfielder Karen Nesbitt.
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