The fog that drifted across Papé Field Friday night made the Ducks’ 3-0 loss to the Beavers look like a dream.
Unfortunately, it was more like a nightmare.
Before an energetic crowd of 2,055, Oregon watched as Oregon State capitalized on the few opportunities it was presented with, as well as receiving a few questionable calls from the officials.
The loss dropped the Ducks to 3-9-1 overall for the season and 0-3 in the Pacific-10 Conference, while the Beavers improved to 7-7 overall and 1-2 in the Pac-10.
The Ducks failed to score their first goal in Pac-10 play, losing their first three matches by a combined score of 9-0.
“We have to figure out how to get the ball in the net,” Oregon head coach Bill Steffen said. “To score goals you need to be confident. To be confident you need to score goals. The first goal is always the hardest.”
Much of the first half was dominated by both defenses, as offensive chances were few and far between. The Ducks were snakebitten when some of their best chances early in the match were nullified by offside calls. Oregon had another great chance at the 35-minute mark, when junior forward Mele French collided with Oregon State goalkeeper Melissa Onstad, leaving her on the ground while the Beavers tried to clear the ball. The Ducks managed a few attempts at the empty net, but couldn’t capitalize and were turned away.
The Beavers netted their first goal of the match a few minutes later, on a 20-yard shot from center by Alyssa Blackwell off a Duck deflection. The sideline referee raised his flag to signal an offside penalty, but the call was overturned, giving the Beavers a 1-0 lead just before halftime.
By far the best opportunity to score for the Ducks came early in the second half, when a 30-yard shot from the middle of the field by junior midfielder Carlie Ashcraft bounced straight down off the crossbar, seemingly just in front of the goal line.
“I thought that was a goal and they just took it away from us,” Oregon redshirt sophomore midfielder Sabrina DeMonte said. “The referees were awful.”
DeMonte was not the only one questioning the officials.
“We had a goal taken away from us,” goalkeeper Domenique Lainez said. “And the first one they scored was offsides. It’s disappointing when we play very well and we have horrible officials.”
Oregon assistant coach John Galas challenged the no-call by the officials and was issued a red card.
In the second half, the Ducks tried to push the action to the sides of the field and seemed to control the tempo of the game.
“We were dominating on the outsides,” DeMonte said. “Getting crosses, dribbling, taking people on, but we were just weaker in the middle.”
That weakness was exploited first by Oregon State’s Courtney Carter, who at the 63:29 mark, split four Duck defenders to put a ball into the upper right corner of the net to push the lead to 2-0.
“We had some mental breakdowns in the middle and that’s how two of the goals got scored,” Lainez said. “But overall we played well defensively.”
The Beavers tacked on an insurance goal at 71:15 on a header by Kelli Washburn off a corner kick by Jen Crump.
The physical play that defined much of the Civil War continued for the entire match. French was issued a red card at the 85-minute mark and will miss Friday’s match against Washington State. French is tied for the team lead in goals with two.
“The girl was pushing her and (French) just pushed her back,” DeMonte said. “And he was obviously a horrible ref, so he gave her the red card.”
For the Ducks, Andrea Valadez and Ashcraft led the Ducks in shots (2), and four Ducks had single shots on goal. The Ducks led in shots (9-8), corner kicks (4-3) and fouls (17-10).

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