With its young, deep roster, the Oregon women’s soccer team heads into its 11th-annual Civil War against Oregon State (8-5-2 overall, 1-3-0 Pacific-10 Conference) hoping to keep a four-game unbeaten streak intact and maintain its first-place position in the Pac-10 standings.
Oregon (9-5-1, 3-0-1 Pac-10) currently leads No. 3 UCLA (12-2-0, 3-0-0) by a single point.
“I think being first in the Pac-10 is a little bit of both pressure and motivation for us,” Oregon goalkeeper Jessie Chatfield said. “At the start of the season, all the coaches picked us to finish last in the conference. So now we’re really motivated to do well and show that we can keep doing that.
“But at the same time, there’s also some pressure now because once you get up there, there are new expectations to stay up there and maintain that standard.”
The Ducks have periodically lost starters to injury this year, but their deep, talented bench has kept them in the hunt for a national tournament bid. Oregon has played 10 newcomers this season.
Freshman goalkeeper Emily Zaler distinguished herself when Chatfield broke her hand and was out for five matches, freshman Teresa Bowns has filled in for starting midfielder Rianna Mansfield, and with Leigh Quinlan and Melissa Buich taking turns in the second forward position, Oregon also has a striker-by-committee system to fall back on.
Front and center
Starting striker Tiffany Smith spent the first three weeks of the season recovering from ankle surgery. True freshmen Quinlan and Buich filled in for Smith, producing 18 shots and a goal for the Ducks in her absence.
With Smith back in the starting lineup, Quinlan and Buich now play supporting roles. But when they get sent on-field to spell Smith, they make their presence known in distinct ways.
Buich is known for the physical presence she adds to the front line.
“Melissa is a great target player with some good speed. She’s very aggressive, and can possess the ball for us, but she can also beat players when we need to run a little bit,” Oregon coach Tara Erickson said.
Conversely, Erickson likened Leigh Quinlan to a Nicole Garbin-type forward – like the Ducks’ star striker, Quinlan is swift, agile and an independent worker who isn’t afraid to streak down the field solo.
“With Leigh, you’ve got great speed, and she can get in and pull off shots and work more on her own,” Erickson said. “She’s also got a little more one-on-one ability than Tiffany.”
Smith agreed.
“I think Leigh is a little more like Garbin than I am because she likes to take people on more,” Smith said. “The way the coaches think of it, I’m more of a possessor.”
Smith’s primary role in the offense is to act as a channel between the midfield and the ever-dangerous Garbin.
“Tiff is more of a combination player with Garbin,” Erickson said. “Tactically, she’s a little more advanced with her runs, and because she’s a junior, she’s had more time to develop her chemistry with Garbin. Whereas both Leigh and Melissa have great speed and the ability to strike the ball a little bit more from distance.”
But Garbin-support duties aside, Smith is also an offensive threat in her own right, and she’s making a reputation for herself as a clutch scorer. Two of Smith’s three goals this season have been game-winners, and she provided Garbin with a game-winning assist in the Ducks’ 2-1 victory against No. 24 Arizona on Oct. 6.
Up the middle
The Ducks have had problems filling the attacking midfield position this year. When healthy, freshman Mansfield has been Erickson’s first choice, but she has been plagued by a multitude of different ailments this season.
“Ri is a good attacking player with a good shot that we’d like to see her use more often,” Erickson said. “She’s also a good distributor of the balls, and can play some dangerous balls through for our forwards. When she’s been healthy, she’s been starting, but her fitness has been in and out all season.”
Mansfield has struggled to maintain her match-fitness all season long.
“It’s definitely been frustrating,” Mansfield said. “I came into daily doubles (in August) with strep throat. I felt good for the first half of our first game, but afterwards my hip flexor felt like it was going to detach itself.”
Mansfield’s hip flexor injury kept her out of the lineup for three weeks. Thus, the Ducks enlisted Bowns to fill in until Mansfield returned to action against Portland State on Sept. 29. But then Mansfield suffered a concussion in practice that kept her out of the Ducks’ Oct. 13 game against Washington, and the Ducks once again relied on Bowns to fill the void. Even though Mansfield is now healthy enough to rejoin the starting lineup, Bowns continues to play a big role in Oregon’s weekly game plan.
“Ri gets fatigued because she’s been injured with a bunch of different things and so hasn’t trained enough,” Erickson said. “That’s when Bowns comes in. She’s super-technical, great at possession, and combines very well with players around her.”
Bowns fills the role well enough to cushion the effect of Mansfield’s frequent absence from the midfield.
“I don’t think there’s any one person in the midfield whom I can say I connect better with,” Smith said. “They all bring different things, and we all work well together.”
Backing up the line
Soccer teams typically minimize defensive substitutions to preserve a steady rhythm at the back. But freshman Barbara Blocker has been an exception to that rule this year.
Blocker often comes into the game to give sophomore defender Darcie Gardner a breather.
“Both Blocker and Gardner have different styles,” Chatfield said. “Barbara’s got a great serve – she can get the ball from the outside and just hit it to the forwards accurately. Darcie’s a smart player, she’s all about sacrificing herself for the play.”
In the Ducks’ 3-2 win over Iona, Blocker scored from 35 yards out, curving a shot high into the upper-left corner of the Gaels’ goal. Sixty-four seconds later, Blocker passed through the midfield to create Quinlan’s game-winning goal.
“Darcie’s been starting, but I think Barbara also deserves to play,” Erickson said. “She and Darcie play well enough that they both deserve minutes because I think they can both help us. Blocker is also more of an offensive threat from that right back position.”
Including tonight’s game against Oregon State, the Ducks have five games left in the season, and they need only one more victory to set a new single-season record. Before this year, the Ducks’ 2005 record of 9-9-1 marked the program’s winningest season in its 10-year history.
The Ducks kick off against the Beavers on Papé Field at 7 p.m. tonight.
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