After a 9-0 start, Oregon (11-2 overall, 4-0 Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League) snagged the top spot in the MCLA Top 25 Poll for the first time in program history.
The Ducks are now ranked third after going 2-2 during spring break, but battled for the No. 1 spot until they finally met their match against No. 7 Colorado (8-2), which defeated them 6-5 last Monday in Tempe, Ariz. The loss, which came a day before Oregon was defeated by No. 13 Arizona State, was its first of the year. Fifth-year coach Joe Kerwin said neither loss was a result of their record catching up to them.
“I don’t think we were the hunted,” Kerwin said. “We go out with the mentality that we are the hunters.”
The Ducks got kills when they defeated Boise State 20-5 and No. 10 Arizona 13-12 earlier in the break before their 11-game winning streak came to a halt.
And the worst thing about the losses now?
“Sitting on that for the rest of the week will be tough,” Kerwin said. “Colorado’s goalie had a great game and we had an off day shooting. It was what we did. We had 47 turnovers against ASU, which was really similar against Colorado. It was us having a terrible day.”
The break started well enough for Oregon. In Bend, Ore., the Broncos scored five goals in the first half, which was still 15 short of the 20 that the Ducks finished with on March 17. Boise State was held scoreless in the second half as Oregon rolled on to victory. Attack Josh Schane netted a game-high five goals.
The Ducks defeated Arizona in Tucson on March 24 in their first battle in the simmering Arizona heat. Oregon lost to the Wildcats in the first round of last year’s national tournament in Texas, and would not prevail victorious in its last two matches of the break.
In their first meeting with the Sun Devils (9-2), the Ducks were defeated 18-17. The loss ignited a four-match tear for Arizona State, which moved up two spots to No. 11 in the latest MCLA poll. ASU defeated California, Michigan and Eastern Michigan after edging out the Ducks. The Wolverines (8-1), who took possession of the No. 1 spot formerly owned by Oregon, also dropped their first match of 2007 on Saturday to the Sun Devils by losing 13-12.
“They have a great coach down there,” Kerwin said of the Sun Devils. “They have talent all over the field. They never backed down from us and that is something other teams have done. These guys kept fighting.”
Julian Coffman still sits atop the PNCLL Division A points list with 56 points and has 16 more goals than teammate and second-leading scorer Clayton Knope, who has 44 points and 26 goals himself.
Now, Kerwin said Oregon just wants to get back on the field. It next plays Chapman University and the University of Utah in Portland on Friday and Saturday respectively. With just four regular season matches to go, he said the team just has to keep doing what it’s been doing.
“I am not worried about the confidence,” Kerwin said. “I think it was more of us not playing up to our level we can still going to go out and beat anybody. We just have to execute better and not make so many mistakes.”