Nearly half of the players on Oregon’s women’s soccer team this year are freshmen. In total, 12 first-year players wear an Oregon uniform for head coach Tara Erickson, and that’s just fine with her.@@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=237&SPSID=4315@@
“We have a great freshman class,” Erickson said. “We have 12 players in that class and they’re all solid players.”
A team with such a high percentage of freshman — 12 of 26 players in total — has its ups and downs though.
“Obviously they’re young and not exactly as experienced as a returning Pac-12 player or Division 1 player,” Erickson said. “So you kind of have to ride the highs and lows of experience or inexperience, but I think they’re a great group of kids.”
Five of those twelve freshmen have played in all ten games this year for the Ducks, and several have earned starting roles. In the Ducks’ Pac-12 opener against Utah, seven starters, including all four midfielders, were freshmen.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=237&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205276781@@
Erickson said that on any given match day, the Ducks may have more or fewer freshman in the starting lineup — it all comes down to who had the best week of practice.
“Every week we always compete throughout the week for who deserves to play, so it’s really not something that we predetermine,” Erickson said.
Abby Steele, a freshman from Santa Rosa, Calif., has emerged as the starting keeper for the Ducks after splitting time early in the season with senior Lindsay Parlee. Steele has put up impressive numbers for the Ducks, with a 1.34 goals against average, allowing only 11 goals in 740 minutes between the posts.
Through the first five games of the season, Steele — then splitting time with Parlee — had yet to give up a goal before giving up six in two games in Baton Rouge. Steele said that her confidence took a blow in those games.
“I think I started out really confident but then as we started to play harder opponents, and we’re kind of getting nervous before games,” Steele said. “I just need to get that confidence back.”
Steele said that if the Ducks can play the way they did to start the season, the confidence will return on it’s own.
“We need to do what we did at the beginning,” Steele said. “Go out, have fun and play hard.”
Two freshman, Bri Pugh and Shanelle Simien, have scored this year for the Ducks, with Pugh finding the back of the net twenty-two minutes into her Oregon career in the season opener vs. Wyoming, and Simien making her scoring debut in the closing moments of the Ducks’ 2-0 victory over the Boise State Broncos.
Pugh has missed some time this year recovering from an ankle injury, but the 5’5’’ forward figures to play an increased role in the Ducks’ offense as the season moves on.
Simien, meanwhile, said that she is enjoying herself this year, but there are still some things she needs to improve on.
“I think I need to adjust to the style of play,” Simien said. “I need just to get more confident and work harder.”
Even with so many new faces on the team, the squad has been able to play well together.
“I think so far we’ve been doing a pretty good job,” Pugh said. “It takes time to mesh together and get that right ‘click,’ but so far I think we’re doing a pretty good job.
The Ducks will travel to Los Angeles this weekend for a pair of games against UCLA, ranked third nationally, and USC. For the Ducks to have success against the Bruins and Trojans, it’s a matter of focusing not on the strength of the opponent, but rather on playing the best soccer the team can play.@@http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-women/d1@@
“Don’t play the other team,” Steele said. “You just need to play your best game.”