As the Oregon women’s soccer team prepares to open the month of October against yet another Top-25 opponent, head coach Bill Steffen says the Ducks’ 3-7 record is just water under the bridge.
“Obviously we’d love to win more,” said Steffen, who is 0-4 against Top-25 teams this season. “But the real question is ‘Did we develop?’ We will see our development later on, maybe even into next year.”
Oregon won its first game in eight tries on Sunday, a 3-2, come-from-behind victory against James Madison. The Ducks play No. 21 Florida State on Sunday at Papé Field at 1 p.m., only their second home game since August 27th.
Get up, stay up
One word that the Ducks have used a lot this week is confidence.
“It was a sigh of relief,” junior defender Starr Johnson said about the Ducks’ win over James Madison. “Hopefully, it will bring back our confidence.”
“I will always have confidence in this team,” goalkeeper Sarah Peters said. “I know we have the ability to play as well as the (top-25) teams.”
Peters said the Ducks have always had that confidence before their games, but often lose it when on the field. Steffen knows his team needs to keep up that confidence for Sunday’s game.
“We need to maintain a tremendous level of intensity, a very high level of execution and be very, very sharp mentally,” Steffen said. “If we do those things, we can win the game.”
David’s domination
Crystal David, the junior transfer from the University of San Francisco, has emerged as one of the Ducks’ most potent offensive threats.
After only four goals in two years at USF, David already has three as a Duck, tying for the team lead.
She leads the team in points with eight and would equal her career point total at USF with just six more.
Go, go goalie arms
With Jeanine Norstad mostly healthy but still questionable for Sunday’s game, Peters will likely be the Ducks’ starting goalie on Sunday. Peters has begun to have more of a “presence,” according to Steffen, on the field.
But even though Peters played well Sunday against James Madison, Steffen says he will have the goalkeepers continue competing for the starting spot. Peters has a 3.44 goals-against-average, with 67 saves, while Norstad has a 2.14 GAA with nine saves.
Pac-ing the rankings
Florida State will be Oregon’s final game before the Ducks start Pacific-10 Conference play. The Pac-10 is well represented in the national rankings with five teams in the top-20. The highest-ranked team is UCLA, ranked fifth, while California is ranked eighth and Washington tenth.
Bring on Florida State
Florida State’s football prowess must have rubbed off on its women’s soccer team. Florida State is 8-4 on the year, with losses to No. 24 Missouri, Ohio State, No. 2 Clemson and No. 11 Duke. All those losses were by a mere one goal. Florida State also notched an impressive 4-1 victory over No. 9 Texas A&M earlier this month.
“Florida State is a very good team,” Steffen said. “For us to win, it’s going to demand a lot of us.”
