Normally, people receive gifts for their birthdays. Friday night, the now 18-year-old Nicole Dobrzynski gave Oregon’s soccer team a present, making an open net save before Tiffany Smith scored her first collegiate goal in a 2-0 win against South Dakota State.
On a night when multiple soccer records fell, Caitlin Gamble scored a second goal with four seconds left as Oregon confronted rustiness and worked at maximizing its shots on goal. Friday’s match at Pape Field was Oregon’s first home game since Sept. 4 and first game since a two-game East Coast swing from Sept. 9-11.
All that and Oregon had its third consecutive shutout, expanding its scoreless mark to 275 minutes and 24 seconds, the best start in University history. Goalie Jessie Chatfield set a single-season record with her fifth shutout. Even South Dakota State goalie Jenn Davis set a Pape Field record as well with 14 saves.
Oregon started tentatively, with South Dakota State taking advantage with an early goal-scoring opportunity by Kelsey Worcester five minutes in. Off a tap from a teammate past Oregon’s defenders, Worcester was stopped by a diving Chatfield.
Then, as Oregon (6-1-1) proceeded to pepper the Jackrabbits’ goal with shots, the Ducks held them without a true scoring opportunity until 11 minutes into the second half. Coach Tara Erickson termed it a “chaotic” sequence as South Dakota State drew Chatfield out and Annie Pudenz shot on an empty net before Dobrzynski knocked the ball down and kicked it out.
Oregon, which totaled 21 shots, went ahead 1-0 with 19 minutes, 16 seconds left in the second half. South Dakota State’s Vanessa Paswaters earned a yellow card, setting up a free kick near the right edge of the goalie’s box. Midfielder Kate Nelson lofted a ball that a streaking Smith headed in from five yards out.
“She’s a great set-up player,” Erickson said. “She’s a playmaker from the top because she can play with her back to goal and set Garbin up, set (Andrea Valadez) up – set somebody else up from there.”
Smith made six shots on goal, and the sophomore was moved from midfield to forward prior to the game. The move paid almost immediate dividends, with the Eugene native creating shots and placing less pressure on leading scorer Nicole Garbin.
With Pacific-10 Conference play approaching, Erickson said they don’t want to have teams simply focusing on Garbin, Oregon’s leading scorer with six goals.
“I liked some of the runs from our forwards,” Erickson said. “We worked on some more attack. Now we just need to finish, and that’s something that’s a mental (thing) – you can work on it all you want, but come game time you got to put those ones away.”
Smith blasted a shot on goal with 16:06 left in the first half, breaking between two South Dakota defenders who appeared ready to clear the ball, before Smith controlled it and booted the shot that South Dakota’s Davis had to knock down and grab.
“We need to shoot more – coming from everybody,” Smith said. “Garbin’s under a lot of pressure.”
Garbin did have her chances – several on breakaways with shots going slightly awry. Going elbow-to-elbow with a South Dakota State defender, shooting a looping shot at the goalkeeper and a second-half breakaway that ended with a shot off her left foot that went wide left, amounted to a frustrating night.
Smith’s performance helped, which Garbin said she expects after seeing her in practice.
“She’s constantly working, supporting, on and off the ball,” Garbin said.
Oregon sponsored a fund raiser Friday to aid Tulane’s soccer program, which has moved to Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Members of the soccer parents group “The Quacks” handed out green ribbons in exchange for monetary donations Friday and at the soccer team’s official tailgate party before the Oregon-USC football game.
Oregon and Tulane are working to set up a home series starting in 2007.
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