The Oregon women’s soccer team wrapped up its season this weekend with a pair of losses to the visiting Southern California schools. No. 9 USC knocked off the Ducks 1-0 on Friday night, and the Ducks went on to lose 2-0 to No. 3 UCLA.
The Ducks finish the season 9-9-2 (2-6-1 Pacific-10 Conference) and will ultimately finish somewhere in the lower half of the Pac-10 standings. Still, the Ducks showed incredible fight and determination down the final stretch of the season. Winning two of their last four games, the Ducks showed they have the potential to be a conference title contender next year as they return a young, talented core of players.
“We did a heck of a job this season,” head coach Tara Erickson said. “I’m proud of our girls.”
Like they have all season, Oregon battled with USC (15-4-1, 5-3-1) all game long. The Ducks played the defending NCAA champions tough and more than held their own.
The shot tally was 17-14 in favor of USC and the Trojans needed just one opportunity to put away the Ducks. A lead pass from the Trojan midfield found a seam in the Oregon back line, and senior forward Amy Rodriguez was able to put it away in the corner of the net, just past a diving Cody Miles. Rodriguez was a member of the gold-medal winning U.S. team that competed at the Beijing Olympics.
“This was a hard-fought game on both ends,” Erickson said. “They are last year’s champions and I thought we played them really well.”
The Ducks did have several opportunities but never put a final touch on a ball to score. It was just the third time all year the Ducks had been shut out.
That was until they ran into a dominant UCLA (18-0-2, 9-0) squad Sunday afternoon in the season finale. The Bruins won their second straight outright Pac-10 Championship and completed their first undefeated regular season in team history. They will head to the NCAA Tournament as one of the favorites to win the title.
Miles had a phenomenal game in net, despite the 2-0 final score. The freshman made eight saves for the Ducks and surrendered two goals that would have been difficult saves. The first took an awkward ricochet off her body into the goal and the second was a blast from inside the Ducks’ box that was destined for the back of the net. But Miles handled the constant pressure of the Bruins’ attack well. At one point she challenged and deflected a one-on-one attack with another member of the Olympic team, this time in the form of Lauren Chaney.
The Ducks were shut out again for the second time of the weekend, but had other things on their mind as they said goodbye to the seniors who played their last games as Ducks.
“I can’t even begin to explain how important all of our seniors have been,” Erickson said. “Statistics will never show what they have meant to this program.”
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