The week-and-a-half since the Oregon women’s lacrosse team’s season-ending loss to Cal in the conference tournament has given players and coaches a chance to look back at its record-breaking season and forward to the next.
Oregon lost to Cal 10-9 on April 24 in the semi-finals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament, the second loss to Cal in a week. Oregon’s 12-5 record was the second-most wins in its five-year program history and established a program record with nine wins in 10 games during one stretch in the season, during which the team beat MPSF rival Denver and East Coast power Johns Hopkins for the first times in school history.
And yet, the season “first” the team set at the end of the year wasn’t the one the Ducks had hoped for. Instead of winning the MPSF conference tournament for the first time, Oregon ended its season with a loss for the first time because of a change in the tournament’s format to one-and-done from a consolation round that Oregon had won four years straight.
“It was a heartbreaker,” senior Casey Rector said.
The loss will stay in Oregon’s mouth for a while, senior attacker Ilsa van den Berg said, but it’s not enough to nullify the team’s accomplishments.
“It didn’t end the way we wanted to but we still got a lot accomplished with the win over Denver and the win over Hopkins,” said van den Berg, who leaves her Oregon career the program leader in points and goals, setting both records this season. “That was something we’ve never had before. Everyone else from the classes will take that into next year.”
Oregon entered the season adjusting to 16 new freshmen after the program’s first senior class graduated in 2008. After two losses to No. 18 Stanford and No. 9 North Carolina in the season’s first two weeks, Oregon began a six-game winning streak highlighted by the emergence of a group of freshmen offensively who accented returning scorers like van den Berg and sophomore Alex Breiner. The come-from-behind experience against Hopkins left a mark for Rector.
“That was a moment where we found each other and told each other we can do it,” said Rector, who will be an undergraduate assistant next season on the Oregon coaching staff.
The freshmen’s adjustment was made possible by upperclassmen who took on many of the responsibilities that allowed the freshmen to simply play, head coach Jen Larsen said.
“The leaders were the ones that we would say, ‘This is what we’re trying to execute and take less off the freshmen’s shoulders,” Larsen said. “They worked harder than we’ve ever worked before. And it was quite rewarding.”
She was also proud of her team’s response to its streak-breaking loss to an average Delaware team on March 26, which started a three-game winning streak, including a win over Denver on the road.
“They were seeing those rewards during that streak and continued after we started into the month of April,” Larsen said. “You want to make sure you can ride any kind of wave.”
Seniors van den Berg and Rector were named to the MPSF all-tournament team, the first all-tournament honor for either player. Before the tournament started, freshman Jana Drummond was named the MPSF co-Newcomer of the Year after a season where she led the Ducks with 42 points and tied van den Berg with a team-high 34 goals. She became the first freshman since the team’s first season to lead the team in scoring.
Drummond also set a single-game record with seven goals in Oregon’s three-overtime, 13-12 loss to Cal on April 17, a performance that led to her winning MPSF Player of the Week honors.
Offensively, four freshmen, Drummond, her sister Jess, Catherine Davidson and Bina Barrett, finished the season in the top six of the Ducks’ top scorers. Having van den Berg guide the four couldn’t have hurt; she said she took them “under her wing.”
In the not-too-distant future, the senior said, one of the younger players could challenge her records.
“I have a feeling the Drummonds or Alex Breiner will break it in a year,” she said.
The players have already begun training under the NCAA’s limitations for off-season workouts to replace seniors who left positions at all major positions, including goalie (Anna Poponyak), midfield (Casey Rector and Cara Mead), attack (van den Berg) and on defense (Alicia Burkhart). Coaches can work with four players maximum at a time working with sticks for two hours each week, and strength and conditioning coaches work with them for six hours weekly. The busywork of paperwork and meetings continues at a steady pace for coaches.
Van den Berg not finished with lacrosse yet
No NCAA Tournament? No big deal for Ilsa van den Berg.
Two days after graduating from Oregon, the Maryland native will fly to Prague in the Czech Republic to play for the Danish Women’s National Lacrosse team in the 2009 Women’s Lacrosse World Cup, from June 18-28, a tournament organized by the Federation of International Lacrosse and contested every four years since 1982.
Although she grew up outside Baltimore, van den Berg’s parents are from Holland, which made her eligible to play for the Netherlands in the tournament. She saw a posting for eligible players on InsideLacrosse.com over the summer, and after sending the coaches film, she was on the team.
“I’m really excited,” van den Berg said. “I hope we get to play the U.S.”
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