After a loss to Cal on Friday, the Oregon women’s lacrosse team needed to pull off an upset on Sunday against No. 18 Stanford. A win today would have helped the Ducks retake control of third place in the Pac-12 over USC.
The Ducks ended their Bay Area road trip with a 17-9 loss to Stanford, their second loss to the Cardinal this season.
Stanford was just a little bit better than the Ducks in every stat category. The Cardinal had 28 shots on goal to Oregon’s 21, three more draws controlled and four less turnovers than the Ducks.
The game was Oregon’s first in which they failed to hit 10 goals since March 23 against Colorado.
Stanford broke the score early taking a 1-0 lead on an Allie Baiocco goal. Oregon responded swiftly, with Jill Zubillaga scoring her team-leading 48 goal.
The Cardinal then put the game out of reach, outscoring the Ducks 9-3 to end the first half.
Out of the break, Stanford picked up where it left off, scoring the first four goals of the half before JoJo Hesketh ended the run with 15 minutes left.
Despite the major deficit, the Ducks showed fight late. In the final 16 minutes, Oregon outscored Stanford 5-3.
Overall, Hesketh netted four goals to lead the team. Hesketh has scored 10 goals in her last three games and now has 24 on the season.
Oregon will end its season on Friday, April 20, against the Pac-12 leading No. 19 Colorado Buffaloes, who the Ducks lost to 14-9 earlier this season.
Follow Maverick Pallack on Twitter @mavpallack