Senior forward Nicole Garbin and freshman goalkeeper Jessie Chatfield of the 2005 Oregon soccer squad received All-Conference honors Thursday. The two helped the Ducks to their second .500 season in program history.
For the second time in her career, Garbin found her way into the Pacific-10 Conference’s second-team, which also claimed four-time All-Pac-10 honorees Manya Makoski of Arizona State and Iris Mora of UCLA. Garbin was named to the second team in 2003.
The Wailuku, Hawaii native set a single-season school record with 10 goals scored this year. Seven were game-winners, good for another Oregon record. As the program’s all-time leader in shots (173), assists (14) and game-winning goals (13), Garbin has had a stellar career with the Ducks and may not be done yet. She will be in Oregon coach Tara Erickson’s lineup for next season pending a sixth year of eligibility granted by the NCAA for medical hardship. Garbin sat out the 2002 and 2004 seasons with knee injuries.
Like Garbin, Chatfield posted school records of her own this past season for shutouts (7) and consecutive scoreless minutes (355:47). The Eugene native made 96 saves en route to a 1.71 goals against average. She was named an Honorable Mention All-Conference and is on the Pac-10’s All-Freshman team roster.
Erickson is pleased but not surprised with Garbin and Chatfield’s all-conference honors.
“It’s good to see Garbin and Jessie get some recognition because they earned it,” Erickson said. “And it’s also a reflection of some of the success we were able to have as a team.”
– Scott J. Adams