The University men’s club lacrosse team will have to overcome an extremely tough schedule early on in order to pursue what they hope will be a long run at the national championship tournament this season. And that journey began this past weekend with a trip through Minnesota.
“The trip was good overall,” said sophomore defenseman Austin Zillis. “We were able to hang with two of the top-five teams in the nation.”
Late Friday night the Ducks matched up with No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth in what was a very even bout, but the Oregon men weren’t able to hang on down the stretch and came up just short in an 11-9 loss. Duluth was able to seal the game closed in the final 30 seconds as the ball was knocked lose just before what looked to be Oregon’s last chance offensively to tie the game at 10-all.
Sophomore Kevin Clark and junior Alex Craighead each notched two goals for the Ducks, while Craighead also added an assist to finish with three points overall. The 5-foot-six, 145-pound freshman Sean Silverstein was able to score his first collegiate goal to go along with an assist, which gave him two points on the day.
“We’ve just got to work on playing better team-ball,” Zillis reiterated.
Oregon goalie Nick Johnson was credited with 14 saves for the game, though he did allow all 11 opposing goals.
“This was a hard one,” said head coach Andrew Clough. “We have a young team and this weekend was a great chance to see them in action.”
Of the 36 players on the Oregon squad, 24 of them are either freshman or sophomores. Clough himself also is relatively new to the head coaching position as well, in that he recently took over near the end of last season.
The following day the Ducks found themselves in Minneapolis, Minn., in a contest with the University of Minnesota. Oregon was in a much better position this time around, with seven different players scoring at least one goal.
Junior attacker Justin Blackmore led the way offensively for the Ducks with four goals, while the lanky junior Chad Loescher also completed the hat trick to finish with three goals on the night. Johnson had a much stronger game between the pipes for the Ducks, finishing the contest with 25 saves.
“It was a great experience for our young team,” Blackmore said. “We found out what we need to work on and we can take a lot away from the trip.”
The Oregon men had the day off on Sunday before a guaranteed tough contest with No.4 Brigham Young University on Monday morning. The Ducks played a solid first half matching BYU with four goals a piece. But the second half was an entire different game. The Cougars came out firing and never looked back as they put up four goals early in the second half, then another seven goals in the latter half to complete the 15-8 victory.
“These guys are in great shape, but this showed us that we have to get in even better condition,” Clough stated.
“Our defense had been really strong throughout the weekend,” he said. “But by the end we just ran out of gas.”
The Ducks have another series of road games this coming weekend as they travel to the University of Montana on Saturday, followed by a matchup with Gonzaga University on Sunday. Oregon will host their first home contest against Boise State on March 7th.
“The way I see it is that we will have plenty of chances to prove ourselves against strong opponents,” Clough concluded. “We know what we need to work on, and this will truly be a launching point for where this program can go in the future.”