The desert schools will come to town this weekend, and they will bring their sub-.500 Pac-10 women’s soccer records with them.
With the Ducks returning home, the matches against Arizona and Arizona State may be to the home team’s advantage. An advantage is something Oregon could use, as it hasn’t won in the last seven games.
“Our players can be confident against Arizona and Arizona State,” Oregon head coach Bill Steffen said. “Confidence works both ways; we are confident because we have done well against them in the past, but at the same time, that may motivate them more.”
The Ducks have split with the Wildcats and Sun Devils in each of the past two years. In 2000, the Ducks defeated Arizona and lost to Arizona State, and the tables turned last year as Arizona won the match with Oregon and Arizona State took a loss.
The Wildcats have never won at Papé Field, and the Sun Devils have only won once, in 2000. Oregon is looking forward to the opportunity to be home again after a rough weekend in the Bay Area. The Ducks took a 2-0 loss to Cal, and No.1 Stanford beat Oregon 3-0.
“The players will enjoy being home. That is an important thing,” Steffen said.
Arizona (5-7-1, 0-3-0 Pac-10) has fallen to several high-caliber teams in recent weekends, including Oklahoma, No.7 UCLA and No. 19 USC.
Kelly Nelson paces the Wildcats with 10 goals. Other offensive threats include freshmen Lisa Kosena, with four goals and assists, and Maggie MacCool, who has taken seven shots for Arizona.
“Arizona is very athletic, and they tend to play with a lot of emotion,” Steffen said. “If we can manage to take them out of the game and control the flow of play, then that will be to our advantage.”
The Sun Devils have won one game in Pac-10 play but were recently shut out by UCLA and suffered a double-overtime loss to USC. Arizona State had a seven-game winning streak prior to those losses.
Freshmen forward Elizabeth Bogus leads the team with seven goals and 45 shots. In goals, ASU is protected by sophomore Kelly Fitzgerald, who sports a 0.88 goals-against-average with 66 saves.
Oregon has been off to a rough start, but now it is home again, and things look to be to its advantage.
The Ducks will be led by freshman forward Mele French, who paces the team in goals with two and has taken 20 shots. Senior goalkeeper Sarah Peters has a 2.14 GAA and ranks first in the conference in saves at 5.69 per game.
“We are going to win a Pac-10 game this weekend,” Steffen said. “If we can stay focused and continue to create quality chances, we are going to stick one in, and once we do that, we can build on that.”