The season has come to a close for Oregon women’s soccer on a significantly better note than in recent weeks, as the team won two of its last four matches to make a final push after what became a rough patch in the middle of the season.
The Ducks sent their seniors off in style in competitive games with marquee teams in the final weekend of the season. And despite the rough start to the Pac-10 schedule, the Ducks managed to finish tied for seventh in the conference, the highest-ranked team from the Pac-10 to be left out of the NCAA Tournament. All six teams that finished above Oregon are in the field of 64.
The Ducks finished at 9-9-2 with a 2-6-1 Pacific-10 Conference record. The six teams they lost to in conference are the same ones that will play for the national title. Stanford and UCLA will host regionals and are two of the top five favorites to win the title. USC, Washington State, Washington and Cal are also headed into the tourney.
The Portland Pilots will also host a regional and are ranked third in the nation.
So while the Ducks may not be dancing this year, they certainly have a lot to build on going into the recruiting period and next season. They return a solid core of young players who will step into leadership roles with the departure of this year’s seniors.
The Ducks have a budding star in freshman goalkeeper Cody Miles and, of course, they return their Howitzer, sophomore forward Jen Stoltenberg. Stoltenberg led the team with 10 goals this year and 25 points which ties her with Nicole Garbin for the program record. She and junior forward Teresa Bowns shouldered much of the scoring load for the Ducks and will surely be a front line to be reckoned with come next year. The midfield is loaded with returning players. Sophomore Kirstie Kuhns, junior Danielle Sweeney and sophomore Mercedes Walters were all regulars in the starting lineup this year and will strengthen the leadership of the team next year.
In order to crack the top half of the conference standings in an extremely tough conference, the Ducks will need contribution from everybody, but they have a good leg up by returning so much experience.
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