The message coach Tara Erickson decided to impart with her team yesterday before they played Gonzaga – however reluctant she may have been to say it – worked.
“I gave them very few coaching points and just wrote, ‘We must win the game,’” said Erickson, who watched the Ducks get steamrolled in a 4-0 loss to Portland Friday. “I think I even wrote, ‘Or else.’”
Oregon (7-4), desperate for a quality non-conference win after being snubbed from the NCAA Tournament for a lack thereof last season, responded by beating the Bulldogs (8-3) 4-1 at Papé Field.
As for Erickson’s message?
She’s just glad it worked.
“Sometimes you are fearful of telling your team, ‘You’re in a must-win situation,’ because what’s gonna happen?” Erickson said. “Are they gonna rise to the occasion or shy away from it? But I thought, ‘What else can I do?’ It couldn’t get any worse than Friday night.”
The Ducks did about as much damage to Gonzaga Sunday as was done to them by the Pilots on Friday.
Sophomore midfielder Teresa Bowns tallied a goal and three assists, earning a team-high five points in the match while setting Oregon’s single-game assists record.
Junior goalkeeper Jessie Chatfield broke the program’s career win record, held by Amanda Fox, by recording her 24th victory, which was nearly a shutout.

And sophomore midfielder Dani Oster, sophomore midfielder Danielle Sweeney and junior defender Darcie Gardner each netted goals. The Ducks’ offensive output against the Bulldogs helped them tie last season’s mark for goals – though Oregon still has nine regular-season matches left to play.
In the same weekend where Oregon only got one shot on goal against Portland, the squad outdid Gonzaga 7-3 in on-target shots – including 6-1 in the first half, when the Ducks did the majority of their scoring.
Bowns, who scored the last goal of the first half, assisted Oster and Sweeney on their goals to provide Oregon with a 3-0 lead by halftime. She said that the team was ready to redeem itself.
“I think we were all just pretty pumped to get back out there and work hard again,” said Bowns, whose team had four more corner kicks than Gonzaga. “We definitely had the fire today.”
Portland 4, Oregon 0
Chatfield identified its route, leaped and reached, but Angie Woznuk’s shot somehow managed to twist high and pass her, squeezing its way into the left corner of Oregon’s net.
The goal, which looked almost to be a cross, put No. 10 Portland on the scoreboard first Friday night in the 20th minute at Papé Field.
It also seemed to debilitate the Ducks, whose offense failed to score in the contest and whose defense went on to allow three more goals in a 4-0 loss to the Pilots (8-3) in front of 1,937 spectators, the second largest for a women’s soccer match at the field.
“That first goal just hit us right in the gut,” said senior defender Dylann Tharp, whose team was outshot 16-7. “It was just one of those things where the momentum shifted and we never quite recovered.”
Portland continued to dictate the pace of the game in the second half.
Freshman midfielder Sophie Schmidt, a native of Abbotsford, British Columbia, scored goals in the 61st and 65th minutes, including a header off teammate and U.S. national team member Stephanie Lopez’s corner kick. Schmidt played for the Canadian National Team in the FIFA Women’s World Cup in China this summer.
The Ducks concluded their non-conference season and will next visit Pacific-10 Conference opponent USC at 3 p.m. on Friday.
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