Four games into its season, the Oregon women’s soccer team was 3-0-1 and had yet to allow a goal in its best start since 2007. But the Ducks hit a speedbump in Baton Rouge two weekends ago, losing 1-0 to LSU in the opening of LSU’s new stadium and falling hard to No. 20 Illinois, 5-0.
Oregon’s season started with a pair of 2-0 wins in Boise against Boise State and Wyoming. Four different Ducks scored in the Boise State tournament, as freshman goalie Abby Steele and senior Lindsay Parlee split time between the posts in a pair of team shutouts.
The Ducks’ hot start continued against UNLV at Pape Field, with junior Julie Armstrong scoring a goal early in the first half for a 1-0 victory against the Rebels.
In the University of Oregon Nike Tournament, the Ducks had their highest offensive output of the season in a 3-0 win over New Hampshire, with Armstrong once again netting the eventual game-winner.
The Ducks’ second game of the Nike tournament was a scoreless draw against #16 Santa Clara, with Abby Steele in goal for all 110 minutes of play.
For the year, the Ducks were picked to finish eighth in the Pac-12 preseason coaches poll, but that’s not where head coach Tara Erickson expects the team to finish.
“It’s an accurate reflection for people on the outside who don’t know us,” Erickson said. “But we’ll finish higher.”
Erickson was faced with replacing Jen Stoltenberg, far and away Oregon’s leading scorer last season with eight more goals than anybody else on the team.
But the seventh-year head coach said that replacing Stoltenberg, who was drafted ninth overall by the Philadelphia Independence of Women’s Pro Soccer,@@This info on Stoltenberg needed?@@ isn’t the worst thing that could have happened to the Ducks because it will force other players to step up, instead of allowing the team to rely on one marquee player.
Erickson said she believes the Ducks can be successful this season if they continue to play with the same kind of defensive tenacity that they showed in their first six games.
“It starts in goal and with defending, and we had been doing a fantastic job of that up until (Sunday’s 5-0 loss),” Erickson said.
Colorado and Utah join the Pac-12 this season, and Erickson believes this only strengthens the conference. The Ducks have played both the Buffaloes and the Utes in the past and have had success against both teams.
One implication of the conference newcomers, Erickson said, is that they are both difficult road trips for all the other schools in the conference. The Ducks lucked out this season, though, because they only have to play Colorado on the road while playing Utah at home.
When it comes to playing in high elevations, like in Utah and Colorado, the Ducks will be up to the challenge, according to Erickson.
“It’s just a matter of being fit and mentally strong.”
There are some tough opponents on the Ducks’ schedule — including trips to UCLA and USC early in conference play and a home game against Stanford, which will fall on senior night — but Erickson said no single game can be more important than the next.
“In the past, we’ve seen that our season has come down to one game, that if we won one more game, we’d have qualified for the NCAA tournament,” Erickson said.
Erickson also said that the Ducks’ youth may work to their advantage against perennial powers because some of the younger players might not see a particular team as being a powerhouse — even if that’s a bit naive.
The Ducks finished up their nonconference schedule this past weekend in Corvallis with a 2-1 win Friday afternoon against UC Davis and Sunday morning against Florida International. They begin the Pac-12 era on Sept. 23 against conference newcomers Utah.
As nonconference schedule wraps up, Oregon soccer looks for momentum
Daily Emerald
September 18, 2011
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