Oregon could have been forgiven for looking a little tired Friday afternoon before its game against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.
After all, they had arrived in Virginia only 13 hours earlier.
Thursday’s “travel day from hell,” said senior Ilsa van den Berg, included two canceled flights and impromptu travel arrangements that split the team into three separate groups, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Ducks from winning in their 2008 East Coast debut, edging the Hokies 14-13.
The Ducks (3-1 overall, 1-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) continued their three-game winning streak Sunday by routing then-No. 18 Richmond 17-5 behind four goal from senior Ilsa van den Berg. It was the Ducks’ second win over a ranked opponent in program history, and vaulted Oregon into the rankings this week at No. 19, its highest ranking ever.
“I think that there’s a confidence that we’ve not had that lets us know we can play with these top-level teams,” said Larsen.
On Friday, the Ducks found scoring from nine different players, including an own-goal by the Virginia Tech goalkeeper. Down 6-4 at halftime, Oregon’s Jana Bradley and Jen May scored two goals in the first 41 seconds of the second half to shift the momentum in Oregon’s favor.
Neither team led by more than two goals until 19 minutes left in the half, when Virginia Tech pushed its leads to 11-9 and 12-10.
But consecutive goals by Lindsay Killian at the 12-and 6-minute markers were the beginning of four unanswered goals by Oregon in a nine-minute period that all but sealed the victory. The Ducks were then able to hold off the Hokies for the final 1:32 after a Virginia Tech goal brought the game to within one.
“I definitely know that we were much more lethargic on Friday,” said Larsen. “At halftime we had a talk about using our brains when our bodies weren’t able to do what we wanted to do.”
The Ducks finished the weekend by overrunning Richmond (2-2 overall), the defending Atlantic-10 Conference champions. Oregon held a 7-2 lead at the half before putting 10 more goals on the board in the second.
Being on the right end of two major statistics didn’t hurt the Ducks’ upset either; Oregon doubled Richmond’s shots on goal (29 to 14) and committed half as many turnovers (eight to 17).
Killian described the win as “definitely a statement” for the program.
“They were not expecting us to be as good as we are,” said Killian.
Van den Berg led all players with five points, scoring four goals in a performance Larsen called “dominating.”
Theresa Waldron and Alex Breiner each scored three goals. Killian led the team with two assists to go along with two goals, as well.
Oregon’s first home game of the season is this Saturday against Le Moyne, 1 p.m. at Papé Field.
The Dolphins (1-1 overall) are the defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champions, and played in the program’s fourth NCAA Tournament last season.
Just like its games against Hokies and Spiders, Oregon has never played Le Moyne before this season.
After last weekend, van den Berg can’t wait to play in front of the home crowd.
“I’m so excited to stay in Eugene,” said van den Berg.
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