The Oregon women’s soccer team stunned the Arizona schools over the weekend. The unranked Ducks (8-5 overall, 2-0 Pacific-10 Conference) defeated No. 24 Arizona 2-1 on Friday before winning 1-0 against Arizona State on Sunday afternoon.
The Ducks’ success against the Arizona schools marked the first time in program history that Oregon has started its Pac-10 season 2-0. The win against Arizona was also the program’s first road victory against a top-25 team. Oregon is now tied with No. 4 UCLA at the top of the Pac-10 standings.
“We played very well this weekend. We were awesome,” coach Tara Erickson said. “Last weekend was the turning point – we did well against Portland and felt good going into this weekend.
“But this weekend is a springboard into our remaining games. Not many teams get to open their Pac-10 season going 2-0 on the road. It’s amazing, especially for the veterans like Nicole Garbin and Dylann Tharp who’ve been around for a while. They’re happy to be on this end of things for the first time in a long time.”
Garbin, an Oregon forward, scored all three of the Ducks’ goals over the weekend.
On Friday, she drew first blood against the Wildcats, scoring in the 23rd minute off a through ball from Tharp, a junior defender. Eight minutes into the second half, Garbin teamed up with forward Tiffany Smith on a give-and-go to score the Ducks’ second goal.
With that goal, Garbin passed Chalise Baysa’s previous record of 69 career points, and established herself as the all-time points leader in school history.
Garbin continued her heroics against Arizona State.
Four minutes before halftime, the Hawaii native blasted a shot from the right that deflected off the goalkeeper’s gloves and rolled into the left side of the net.
That was her 29th career goal. Together with her 15 assists, Garbin now has 73 career points.
“Garbin wanted the ball. She was hungry to get the ball, and we served it to her and she produced,” Erickson said.
Erickson hailed the weekend as a maturation process for the Ducks.
“We played better soccer than our opponents this weekend. We outplayed them and we controlled the ball” she said. “We’re outplaying teams and looking more mature and composed than we did earlier this season. This team is starting to grow up.”
Garbin said the team feels as if it has something prove.
“We were picked to finish last in the Pac-10, and now we’re 2-0,” Garbin said. “We’ve always been so close in games before, and then always came up short. Now I think we’re peaking at the perfect time. The win against Arizona was a huge one for us.
“It seemed like they were playing without any heart, any emotion. And we’re all about that. I keep telling my team that we have got to keep playing with heart, because that’s what the game is all about,” she said.
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