The Oregon soccer team is thanking the Pacific-10 Conference scheduling department right about now.
A week after going on the road to face UCLA and Southern California — two of the Pac-10’s best teams — the Ducks will come home this Friday to take on Oregon State, a team they haven’t lost to in four years.
The weekend after taking on the Beavers, the Ducks will face two critical home matches when they take on Washington State and No. 4 Washington at Papé Field. Oregon will then face Stanford and California in the Bay Area to close out its season.
“Whenever Oregon plays against Oregon State, it’s always special,” Oregon head coach Bill Steffen said. “It’s a nice rivalry.”
Better than the Beavers
Oregon has had the upper hand in the soccer Civil War, winning all four of the matchups between the in-state rivals. The Ducks have outscored Oregon State 12-2 during that stretch and have shut out the Beavers twice.
Last season, the Ducks beat Oregon State 4-0 behind scores by now-sophomore Julie McLellan, now-junior forward Chalise Baysa and others.

Feed them to the Dawgs
UCLA and USC ripped apart the Oregon schools last weekend, outscoring the Beavers and Ducks 19-3 in the four games. Now the Los Angeles schools will take on Washington and Washington State in one of the biggest weekends on the Pac-10 schedule.
Washington, like UCLA and USC, is undefeated in conference play. All three teams have only one loss on the season, but the Trojans and Bruins each have a Pac-10 tie after the teams played to a standstill two weeks ago. The Huskies have a 10-game home winning streak and are leading the Pac-10. But this weekend’s matches will determine who will take the league lead.
The Los Angeles schools won’t be able to overlook Washington State either, because the Cougars surprised both Arizona and Arizona State last weekend by beating both teams.

Crystal phone home
Junior forward Crystal David’s torn knee ligament must be worse than she originally thought.
The team’s second leading scorer has now missed four games because of the injury. She was supposed to play last weekend against UCLA and USC but sat out both games. She is listed as probable to play on Friday, Steffen said.Versatile senior T.J. Johnson was also supposed to play this weekend and didn’t.
Beth Bowler, the team’s third-leading scorer, also missed last weekend’s action, but Steffen said that she should return to the Ducks’ lineup this Friday.

Breathing easier
This weekend will mark one of the few times this season that the Ducks will play a soccer game without facing a ranked opponent. Since the Tennessee Tournament in September, the Ducks have faced at least one top-25 team every weekend. Steffen insists the game still has as much importance as a top-25 game because it has as much intensity.
But past history would suggest this Civil War is a little less than intense. The Ducks will take on Oregon State Friday at 3 p.m. on Papé Field.