Oregon ended its match in a 1-1 tie against Washington State on Friday and lost 2-0 to Washington on Sunday.
Neither the Ducks (8-7-2 overall, 1-3-2 Pacific-10) nor the Cougars could find the back of the net when it counted or a route into the win column after two overtimes on Friday.
The Ducks’ lone score came in the 20th minute, when senior forward Tiffany Smith got a second chance at a goal after firing a shot that WSU goalkeeper Brynn Bemis sprawled out to save. Smith made her second shot count.
“Tiffany played very well,” said coach Tara Erickson in an Oregon press release of Smith’s goal, her fifth this season. “She scored because of her second effort on the play. She fought a lot for first and second balls today.”
Oregon’s defense, including junior goalkeeper Jessie Chatfield’s exceptional day between the pipes, kept the Cougars off the board until the 85th minute, when Brooke Bemis booted in a goal off a corner kick by Mallory Fox. Chatfield recorded a season-high nine saves.
“The defense played really well,” Erickson said. “Jessie had a good game. She had to fight off a lot of crosses in traffic and she stuffed a girl on a breakaway in overtime.”
Oregon, playing without defensive midfielder Jen Cameron, and Washington State ended in overtime for a fourth straight season.
“We battled our hearts out,” Erickson said. “I think the players are disappointed they didn’t win, but WSU is a good team and tying on the road is not bad.”
In the match, Oregon was outshot 23-12, including 8-1 in overtime. WSU also forced eight more corner kicks than Oregon, outdoing the Ducks 9-1.
“(The Cougars) are dangerous on their corners,” Erickson said. “They have four big targets they look for and it was tough to counter that, especially without Cameron.”
On Sunday, the Huskies’ Melissa Beal and Jenna Robinson both scored goals in the second half to defeat the Ducks.
“There’s not much to say,” Erickson said. “The first half was OK, but we had a real breakdown after the first goal and never got back in control. We hit the crossbar twice, but we just couldn’t get one in.”
Freshman Jen Stoltenberg led Oregon with five shots. Washington earned a 15-12 shot advantage over Oregon and was on goal more often than the Ducks, outshooting them 7-4. Chatfield made five saves in the contest.
“It definitely wasn’t the result we were looking for,” said Erickson. “Give the Huskies credit. They were fired up for us and they wanted to win.”
Oregon next plays at Oregon State on Friday at 7 p.m. After that, the squad will conclude its regular season with home matches against Stanford and California at Papé Field the following weekend.
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