In 90 minutes of play on Sunday afternoon, the Idaho Vandals (0-11 overall) barely threatened Oregon’s goalkeeper, had trouble advancing the ball beyond their own midfield line, and ended the game without registering a single shot on goal.
The Oregon women’s soccer team (5-4 overall) also set a school record by holding Idaho to a single shot attempt.
But despite their dominance of play, the Ducks only managed a 2-0 win over the Vandals for their first home victory of the season.
Oregon first got on the scoreboard in the 18th minute when sophomore defender Allison Newton found Nicole Garbin lurking near the goal, and Garbin finished the play by putting a low header into the net from about six yards out.
Oregon freshman Megan Watson came off the bench in the second half to score the Ducks’ second goal in the 79th minute.
Despite the win, most of the Ducks agreed that Oregon should have done much more damage against a winless team like Idaho.
“I was happy to get the win at home, but this was definitely not our finest soccer performance,” Oregon coach Tara Erickson said. “We weren’t quite disciplined enough and we didn’t bring our soccer tactics.”
Erickson pointed out that regardless of the four-game road win streak that the Ducks put together before losing 2-1 to Nevada at Papé Field on Friday night, there were still some missing pieces to the puzzle.
“Today we got caught in a little bit of a kick-and-run and didn’t posses the ball as much as I think we should have, whereas on Friday night, all we did was possess the ball, and were not as dangerous as I would have liked,” Erickson said.
The Ducks have also had problems coming up with multiple goals. Sunday’s win over Idaho was the first time this season that Oregon has won or lost by more than one goal.
“I really wish that we could have put in more goals today,” Garbin said. “And we could help that by getting more people involved, getting more shots and taking more risks.”
Erickson agreed with her team’s captain, who has been responsible for four of the Ducks’ 10 goals this season.
“It was good that we managed to score a second goal in the Idaho game, and that it came from a midfielder, but we still need to find a way to score more goals,” Erickson said.
Conversely, Oregon freshman Danielle Sweeney, a defensive midfielder, thinks that the Ducks have had opportunities to score, but that they’re missing the little bit of luck that might make the difference between a goal and a missed opportunity.
“I don’t think we have a problem scoring,” Sweeney said. “We had some shots today, and we had three pretty close shots on Friday that missed by a matter of inches.
“We’re just waiting for luck to turn on our side and get us some more goals.”
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Ducks cruise past misfiring Idaho
Daily Emerald
September 24, 2006
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