The Oregon women’s soccer team began preparing for this Friday’s match-up with the California Golden Bears nearly five months ago. Not that the Ducks had the game circled on their calendars necessarily, but the common goal of contending in the Pacific-10 Conference is something that the whole team has shared this season.
 
Oregon brings an 8-2-1 record into Friday’s home match after picking up another win in double overtime at Weber State this past Sunday.
 
“Our non-conference schedule prepared us really well with some really good games,” head coach Tara Erickson said. “To only really have lost two games, I think we did very well.”
Oregon’s first loss came in their season-opener against No. 4 Portland on Aug. 22, and the second came more than a month later as the Ducks lost 1-0 to Brigham Young last Friday night.
 
“The atmosphere there was crazy,” senior defender Dani Oster said of the BYU game. “The crowd was constantly yelling and screaming, which was something different for us.”
 
Oregon was able to respond well the following day though, as they took Weber State University into double overtime with the score knotted up at 0-0. Junior midfielder Kristie Kuhns scored the game-winning goal with under three minutes to go as she headed a deflected shot past WSU goalkeeper Rebecca Ritchie in the 108th minute.
 
Sophomore goalkeeper Cody Miles had another strong defensive performance as she recorded a season-high 10 saves and tallied her fifth shutout of the season. Miles has been a solid last line of defense as of late, allowing just one goal in her last six matches.
“I think our defense has been great at communicating to everyone in front of them,” Miles said. “We’re just more consistent than we’ve been in the past.”
 
That consistency has stemmed from the growth and maturity of the inexperienced players on the team, which has taken the pressure off of top scorer Jen Stoltenberg.
Over the past few seasons, opposing teams have been able to double-team Stoltenberg and make her their main focus, whereas the Ducks now have several other scoring threats.
 
“In the past, we heavily relied on a few key players,” Oster said. “And our performance was determined on how they played.”
 
Oster added that every player on the field is, “confident and willing to step up and contribute.”
 
And now that the Pac-10 conference schedule is starting, the team will need to be firing on all cylinders to compete.
 
In the previous National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll, which was released on Sept. 29, Stanford (11-0), UCLA (9-1-1) and California (6-3-1) were all ranked in the top 25, while Washington State, Washington, Oregon State and Oregon each received votes.
Erickson said that her approach to Pac-10 play is no different than the preseason.
 
“If anything it’s just been the same approach,” she said. “The kids do a really good job of taking it one game at a time. Win or lose, we focus on that game.”
 
Miles reiterated the same message, saying that the Ducks have “great team chemistry,” which she thinks “really helps (them) on the field.”
 
Along with team chemistry, Oster added that patience, ball control, and being dynamic everywhere on the field would help Oregon be in the position they want to be in near the end of the season.
 
“Keeping shutouts will put us in a good spot to be a strong contender in the Pac-10,” she said.
 
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