The Oregon women’s soccer team will wrap up the 2009 spring season with its final game coming against Western Oregon University on Friday night. The Ducks are 1-2-1 so far this spring, with their lone win coming against Utah on April 18.
Oregon lost seven seniors this offseason, so a majority of its winter and spring practices have been directed toward familiarizing everybody with the Ducks’ system.
“I think our team has come a long way,” sophomore goalkeeper Cody Miles said. “We have very few players right now because we lost so many seniors in the fall, but we’re fit and have been connecting and defending really well together.”
Miles, who will begin her second season for the Ducks next fall, was a Pac-10 All-Freshman team selection this year. She started all 20 games for Oregon in 2008, and was second on the team with 1,845 minutes played. Miles also recorded six shutouts while registering 76 saves.
“With this being my first spring, I’ve been looking into areas of my game that I need to improve on by the fall, as well as taking charge and being a leader,” Miles said.
While Oregon lost a lot of experience this year, it will welcome in a group of 10 freshmen that should be able to help fill the void. Four of the 10 are Oregon natives, including Eugene’s own Tahne Apo from Marist High School.
“We have a roster of 15 right now,” head coach Tara Erickson said. “And we’ve got some injuries with those few, as well.”
Overall, the Duck squad will feature five sophomores, eight juniors, and four seniors in addition to the incoming class next season, as well as several new additions to the coaching staff. Associate head coach Lauren Hanson and volunteer coach Joe Beeler are in the midst of their first spring seasons as a part of the Oregon team, while assistant coach Mac Wilson also will join the staff for the 2009 season.
“We’ve had some good, quality play,” Erickson said. “As a team, we’ve had some really good performances.”
Erickson will look to continue to improve upon her impressive first three years at the helm of the Oregon team. Erickson has never had a team fall below the .500 mark during her Oregon tenure, and should be able to keep that streak going in 2009.
“This spring is the first time our new coaching staff and players have all been able to get together and work on developing our program to a higher level,” senior Danielle Sweeney said.
Sweeney, like Miles, started all 20 games for the Ducks last fall, and was recognized as an All-Pac-10 honorable mention selection during her freshman campaign and named to the All-Pac-10 freshman team. Last year, she was named to the honorable mention Pac-10 All-Academic squad. Sweeney also will continue to be a captain for the young Duck team for the second year in a row.
But the main focus for the Oregon women this spring has been from a defensive aspect.
“We have been learning a new style of defending, which is a more individualistic way of defending,” Sweeney said. “We have come a long way in our defending, even though we still have moments of chaos and things get unorganized. We’re trying to stick with our new style and not revert back to the old one.”
Erickson shared similar feelings with Sweeney.
“We’ve been great at times, we’ve just got to find our consistency,” said Erickson. “But individually they’re taking to (the new defense) very well.”
With a plethora of new faces joining the Oregon women’s soccer team between now and the start of the fall season, there will undoubtedly be an adjustment period for the entire program.
“I want to help our team grow even closer together so that come this fall, we are all so close and know each other so well, that only good things will translate on to the field,” Sweeney concluded.
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