The Oregon women’s lacrosse team extended their home-opener winning streak on Saturday to seven as they took down ASUN Conference foe Liberty. The Ducks are now 11-5 all-time in home openers at Pape Field and took the first of two meetings against Liberty this season.
Sophomore Jamie Level scored the first goal of the season for the Ducks after Liberty scored the first goal of the game within the first two minutes of play. Level finished second highest on the team in scoring with 30 points on 23 goals and seven assists in her debut season last year with the Ducks. She also led the team with 51 draw controls last season. In Friday’s match, she finished with four goals, the fourth hat trick of her career.
A couple minutes later, freshman Hanna Hilcoff used a shoulder fake at the top of the key to before setting one on the ground, scoring her first collegiate goal and giving Oregon a 2-1 lead early in the first half. A few minutes later, Level scored again to extend the Ducks’ 3-1 lead.
Hilcoff again gave an over-the-shoulder pass to Lillian Stump for an Oregon 5-2 score. Stump was one the five top goal-scorers from last season and looked to add to her 27 goals in 15 games. The junior finished her sophomore season strong when she scored 13 goals over the last four games with three consecutive hat tricks and led her team in Pac-12 play with 21 goals.
Stump picked up right where she left off last season, ending the day with five goals and her fourth-straight hat trick. In the last seven games, this was her third 5-goal performance and an overall 23 goals over those seven games.
Sophomore attacker Shonly Wallace had a breakout debut as she finished the day with five goals of her own. Her five goals, with Stump’s, equals the program record in a season opener and her seven points is now tied for second most in an Oregon season opener.
Sophomore Allison Brown also got in on the action when she scored the first goal of her collegiate career in the second half that added to an Oregon 15-10 lead in just her second career appearance on the field.
Hilcoff scored her third goal of the game late in the second half and the first hat trick of her collegiate career to give the Ducks their biggest lead of eight points, 19-11. The Ducks registered four hat tricks on the day to secure the home opener victory, 20-12.
The victory was a solid start to the season under second year head coach Chelsea Gamble Hoffmann, who made big additions to the coaching staff and recruiting class for this year.
The team will travel across the country to Florida to take on Jacksonville next Friday, February 14.
Follow Carly on Twitter @carlyebisuya.
