In the final two regular-season games for the seniors of the Oregon soccer team, a weekend in Washington belonged to a sophomore.
Ducks sophomore forward Ann Westermark scored three goals as Oregon tied No. 13 Washington 1-1 on Friday, then creamed Washington State 4-0 on Sunday.
With the win Sunday, Oregon achieved its school-record eighth win, and kept alive an outside chance for a berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Ducks finished the regular season with an 8-8-2 record, 2-6-1 in the Pacific-10 Conference.
“We finished up on a good note,” Oregon head coach Bill Steffen said. “We’ll see if it has an impact on the (NCAA Tournament) selection committee.”
The Ducks had a chance to beat both Washington schools over the weekend, but that chance was dashed with three minutes to play in Friday night’s contest. After Westermark scored in the 78th minute in Seattle, Oregon almost held off the Huskies for what would have been the biggest upset in Oregon’s short history.
But Washington, which stood third in the Pac-10 before Friday’s match, scored in the game’s 88th minute to send it into overtime. The Huskies’ goal came off a corner kick from Melissa Bennett. Vanessa Pierce headed the corner to Nicole Martinez, who deflected the ball into the net for her first collegiate goal.
Oregon and Washington combined for 15 shots in two 15-minute, sudden-death overtime periods, but neither team could convert its chances.
“Washington is a good team, a legitimate top-20 team,” Steffen said on Friday night. “We’ve proven again that we can compete well with those types of teams.”
On Sunday, Oregon won for the second time in three years in Pullman, Washington. The win was the second conference win for the Ducks.
Westermark opened the scoring in the 28th minute with a blast from the top of the Cougars’ 18-yard box. The sophomore added another goal 13 minutes into the second half, when she put away a rebound on a shot by midfielder Sarah Denner. That goal sparked a barrage of Duck scores, as senior Chalise Baysa and junior Julie McLellan both scored within the next eight minutes. Freshman Nicole Garbin assisted on Baysa’s goal and senior Crystal David assisted McLellan.
“We’re extremely pleased for our seniors as well as the outstanding weekend Ann had,” Steffen said on Sunday. “We had very few lapses today. Our kids played well and our defense was the most integrated it’s been this season.”
The Ducks will now await their postseason fate. Oregon would most likely need to finish as high as seventh in the conference to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Oregon State ended with the same conference record as Oregon, but beat highly-ranked UCLA and also toppled the Ducks for its two conference wins.
If Oregon fails to make the postseason, Sunday’s match with Washington State would be the last in the careers of six Oregon seniors. Baysa, David, Beth Bowler, Starr Johnson, Angela Romero and Annie Murphy will have all played their final seasons in Oregon uniforms.