Oregon rattled off four consecutive goals to start the first half, netted five straight scores to begin the second half and got another hat trick from sophomore Ilsa van den Berg to defeat UC Davis 12-6 Sunday afternoon at Papé Field.
The Ducks, now 2-0 for the first time ever, beat the Aggies (0-1, 0-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) for the second straight year by outscoring them 5-2 in the first half and 7-4 in the second half.
Three of those goals came from van den Berg, who, one week after recording a hat trick in an upset victory against 16th-ranked Stanford, registered her second three-goal performance of the 2007 season. Just three minutes into the second half, junior Jen May spotted van den Berg cutting toward the goal and angled a pass to her, resulting in van den Berg’s third goal of the match and a 7-2 advantage.
“She’s always been a really tough scorer,” coach Jen Larsen said. “Ilsa’s just got some great looks. She’s shooting lights out, which is awesome.”
UC Davis senior midfielder Megan O’Connor scored her team’s first goal of the game on a penalty opportunity after sophomore midfielder Casey Rector received a yellow card. O’Connor finished with a game-high four points off of three goals and her team’s only assist of the match.
Oregon, which tallied five total assists and spent a good portion of the match attacking, received 10 collective saves from sophomore Anna Poponyak and freshman Sam Debow.
Poponyak started, registering 36:29 minutes, snagging three saves and allowing only two goals. Debow was one of several freshman and bench players who entered the match the second half. She had seven saves in 23:31 minutes of action.
“Our bench players have been awesome,” Larsen said. “Being four or five deep is making a difference because the level is not decreasing, so when they are getting in the play is staying high.”
Aggies’ goalkeeper Hilary Harkins made 19 saves. Oregon outshot the Aggies 31-16 and used a combination of different shots to keep Harkins off balance.
“We came out a little shaky in the beginning but ended up picking it up and making sure that we moved the goalie and pumped the goals in,” van den Berg said. “She’s a goalie that likes to stand on the top of her toes so if you just move her one way then you can sink a goal past her.”
Larsen added: “(Harkins) is a phenomenal goalie, but any goalie is vulnerable when you move her. When you vary your shots, it makes a difference.”
Junior attacker Theresa Waldron had one assist Sunday and Lindsay Killian’s pass provided one of her two goals for the day, which pushed the Ducks’ lead to 3-0 with 13 minutes remaining in the first half.
Junior attacker Jana Bradley registered two goals and an assist and junior midfielder Kate Fleming, who had five goals and an assist in the 13-6 victory over the Aggies last season, added two goals, her first igniting the five-goal scoring run by the Ducks to start the second half.
The Aggies netted the last two goals of the game, both coming from O’Connor in the last 10 minutes of the match.
Killian added two second-half goals and senior Brooke Dieringer had a goal and an assist in the win.
UC Davis’ Alden Monger netted two goals and sophomore Patrice Clark, who had five hat tricks last season, was limited to one goal.
Both Oregon and UC Davis had 17 turnovers in the match, which was six fewer for the Ducks than last week’s win against Stanford. Larsen said her team needs to improve on limiting those even further and getting better shots, though she thought they did that in the second half.
“We came out on a mission at that point and started taking care of the ball a little better and not making those dumb errors,” Larsen said.
Everyone seems to be on the same page this year, said van den Berg.
“Last year we were kind of half way there and now our defense is fully a unit together,” van den Berg said. “We work together now and, our offenses, everyone understands them better now.”
Oregon next plays No. 10 North Carolina Friday at 3 p.m. in Chapel Hill.
“It’s always fun to get back to Chapel Hill … It’s gonna be a battle,” said Larsen, a former North Carolina assistant.