The autumn air was crisp and the sun high in the sky as the Ducks continued their ranked opponent run with a 1-1 draw against No. 25 California at Papé Field on Sunday.
Kess Elmore started the Ducks on the right foot with a strike in the fourth minute. Elmore received the ball on the wing, took it herself to the top left corner of the Cal box, then shot across Angelina Anderson and into the net to put Oregon up 1-0.
“Unbelievable,” Coach Graeme Abel said. “The fact that she came back inside. I wish we had Kess all four years. We’re going to miss her when she’s gone, but that is as good as it gets.”
The Duck defense kept five women on the back line – utilizing size, strength and Leah Freeman to control the speedy Bear attackers. Cal managed 23 attempts on Freeman’s net, seven on target, but nothing too nerve wracking.
Most possession was played through the trenches in the middle of the pitch in a game full of physicality on and off the ball.
Freeman had more keeper heroics early in second half, making a fully extended aerial save, deflecting the shot to the turf and scooping the ball up before the Bear strikers could get to it.
Chai Cortez was sent off with a red card in the 72nd minute, after a second yellow for tugging on a Bear’s jersey and spinning her around. Oregon had to play the final 18 minutes outnumbered 11 women to 10.
Graeme Abel made a defensive substitute, Megan Rucker for Kaitlyin Paculba, and kept at least nine Ducks between the ball and Freeman’s net.
“We wanted to make sure we stayed disciplined,” Abel said. “Make sure we don’t give anything silly away, make them go to the outside of us where we can control those places and once we win it, then keep the ball.”
Inconsistent officiating calls from Younes Marrakchi and a persistent drum beat from the fan section added to the tension in the final 10 minutes. The Cal pressure paid off as Bel Rolley committed a foul in the box, giving Cal a penalty kick. Keely Roy converted the penalty in the 82nd minute with an unsavable shot into the top of the goal, tying the game 1-1.
The Bears thought they took the lead with a short-range header in the 87th minute, until the sideline official raised his flag for offsides.
“We’re the best on the road,” Abel said ahead of a must-win trip to Arizona. “We know what we’ve got to do and we go into every game to win. It’s still in our hands. As a program we keep driving forward and pushing into the final weekend. Now it’s our chance to take it over the line.”
Oregon will travel to Tempe, Ariz. to face Arizona State on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.
