The Oregon women’s soccer team has the chance to play spoiler in the final weekend of the 2004 season.
The Ducks (0-6-1 Pacific-10 Conference, 3-12-2 overall) kick off the weekend tonight against Arizona State and finish with conference-leading Arizona on Sunday at Papé Field.
The Wildcats come into the weekend with a one-game lead in the conference over heavily favored UCLA and need only four points to clinch at least a share of their first-ever conference championship.
“A lot of it is confidence,” Oregon head coach Bill Steffen said of the turnaround. “Another part of it is that they had talent that had been under-utilized.”
Oregon is still looking for its first conference victory of the season. The Ducks have not been held winless in conference play since the program gained varsity status in 1996. They have been shutout 10 times this season, matching the record set in 2000.
Injuries have been by far the biggest
contributing factor for the struggling Ducks. The team’s offensive weapons have been
hit hardest, with the likes of Nicole Garbin, Mele French, Andrea Valadez and Caitlin Gamble all spending significant time on the injured list.
As a result, the Ducks’ offense has been
almost non-existent. Oregon has scored
13 goals on the season, resulting in a 0.76 goals per game average. They are the only team in the conference to be averaging less than one goal per game. The Ducks have scored two goals or more
in only three matches this season, two of them being three-goal
efforts against Weber State and Wyoming.
Freshman forward Kami Kapaku has been the most consistent scorer this season, leading the team in goals (4), shots (32), shots on goal (22) and points (9).
The lack of scoring has put pressure on redshirt junior goalkeeper Domenique Lainez to keep the team in games. Lainez has 78 saves this season and is second in the conference in saves per game with 4.88.
Oregon vs. Arizona State (4-2-1 Pac-10, 8-8-1 overall)
Arizona State brings in a balanced offensive attack to Papé Field tonight with four players tallying four or more goals this season, including junior forward Elizabeth Bogus, who has four goals and five assists on the season.
“Bogus gives us trouble,” Steffen said. “It’s tempting to try a crazy scheme (to defend) against them, but we just need to play consistent.”
Oregon vs.
Arizona (14-4-0, 5-2-0)
The Ducks will look to spoil the Wildcats’ chances for their first conference title in Arizona history on Sunday.
Arizona is anchored by freshman goalkeeper McCall Smith, who has notched 10 shutouts this season and leads the conference in save percentage with .902, giving up nine goals against 83 saves. Arizona is second in the Pac-10 in goals against average, giving up 0.49 goals per game.
Arizona is also second in the conference in goals scored, two behind UCLA with 35.
“We are going to have to execute
different things in both matches,” Steffen said. “We can’t keep letting people exploit us on changes from defense to offense and vice versa.”

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