The Oregon women’s soccer team will hit the road for the final time this season as they head to Arizona for a Friday night game with Arizona State and a Sunday afternoon date with the Arizona Wildcats. The Ducks (7-7-2, 0-4-1 Pacific-10 Conference) are still winless in conference play this year but have a real opportunity to put a positive mark on the season with a win or two on the trip. Both the Sun Devils and the Wildcats have only one conference win this year and sit alongside the Ducks and Oregon State in the lower half of the Pac-10 standings.

Arizona State enters Friday’s contest having scored only 20 goals on the year. That’s good enough to tie with Arizona for second-lowest in the Pac-10. The Sun Devils (7-4-4, 1-2-1) have struggled offensively all year long but get their strength from goalkeeper Brianna Silvestri. Silvestri has a miniscule goals-against average and has stopped more than 50 shots on the year. ASU is coming off a 5-0 thrashing at Stanford but has shown flashes of brilliance this year. Its lone conference win came against a top-10 USC team. Arizona (8-8-0, 1-4-0) has also struggled to win
consistently this season. Its lone conference win came over Arizona State and the lack of offensive firepower has been a problem all season long. The game will be on Arizona’s Senior Day, so the Ducks can expect to get an emotionally charged team looking to make a final impact on the season.
With neither of the Arizona teams competing for an NCAA Tournament bid, the Ducks stand to have their best remaining opportunity to notch that elusive, first conference win. With one weekend remaining after this in the season, the Ducks will look to send their seniors out on a good note, all while trying to build a foundation for next year’s team.
[email protected]