After defeating St. Bonaventure 13-10 on Thursday, Oregon (4-3, 2-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will face Vermont (1-3, 0-0 American East) at 7 p.m. tonight on Papé Field.
In Thursday’s win, freshman goalkeeper Sam Debow made her debut as a starter, replacing the injured Anna Poponyak. Debow played the entire game, registering five saves and allowing 10 goals to bring her season total to 31 goals allowed and 20 saves in 191.33 minutes. Poponyak, a sophomore who redshirted in 2005, partially tore her left anterior cruciate ligament last weekend in Baltimore.
Poponyak said a doctor told her Wednesday there’s a 15-percent chance that she could make a comeback in the next three weeks. This means Poponyak would miss Oregon’s next seven matches and then could only potentially play in the team’s last three MPSF matches and the conference tournament in Davis, Calif. Poponyak will not be able to redshirt again. Potentially season-ending surgery may be the final decision after the swelling in her knee subsides and the healing begins, coach Jen Larsen said.
St. Bonaventure beat Vermont 20-15 on Saturday on Papé Field. Against St. Bonaventure, Oregon sophomore defender Kristen Brown helped put the defensive locks on one of the Bonnies’ best scorers, Katelynn Faas. Faas led St. Bonaventure with 56 goals and contributed 14 assists for a team-leading 70 points last season, but was limited to just one goal on three shots on Thursday. The match against Vermont tonight will also be broadcast live on the Oregon Sports Network (Comcast channel 14).
– Dan Jones