Washington State handed the Oregon women’s soccer team their first overtime loss of the season Sunday afternoon in Pullman, Wash. With only two games left in the regular season, the 1-0 defeat was the last thing the Ducks needed in their quest to earn two of the program’s firsts – a winning season and an invitation to the NCAA Championships.
Both offenses were stymied throughout the game, heading into overtime scoreless, but the Cougars needed only 1:33 into the golden goal period before senior forward Alix Rustrum took a cross from teammate Shaye Harrel behind the Oregon defense and buried a shot past Duck goalkeeper Jessie Chatfield.
Two days after topping Washington for the Ducks’ first conference win of the season, Oregon was riding high heading into this game, but Rustrum’s game-winning goal was enough to make the Ducks (9-7-1 overall, 1-6 conference) and first-year head coach Tara Erickson quickly forgot Friday’s win over the Huskies.
“The team was really disappointed to lose,” Erickson said. “We were up for this one. Washington State is a pretty good team, but we found out that we were able to play with them.”
This season Erickson’s squad has often come close to knotting the score with heavily favored conference opponents. The Ducks have been committed this year to ridding themselves of their losing ways seen in previous seasons, but as Sunday’s game showed, their inability to score goals consistently has hindered their cause.
Not even senior forward Nicole Garbin could score against Washington State’s defense. Garbin has been Oregon’s most productive player on offense in 2005 and had a chance to put the Ducks ahead of the Cougars in the 75th minute with her specialty, which was a penalty kick. This time she met her match. Washington State’s goalkeeper Katie Hultin got her gloves on Garbin’s shot for a diving save. It was one of Hultin’s three saves in the game and perhaps the biggest of the season for the Cougars, who are also on the hunt for postseason play.
“I don’t guess. I just react,” Hultin said after the game. “I think I had little more of an advantage because I know Nicole (Garbin) and had played on a summer team with her. That gave me a little more adrenaline to make the save and I just knew it had to be done. We couldn’t go down a goal.”
Hultin’s save gave life to the Cougars’ offense, which volleyed a barrage of shots at Chatfield in the waning minutes of the second half. It was the most offensive action seen in the game, which featured a 16-4 shot ratio in favor of Washington State. Erickson felt the score heading into overtime was indicative of the game play.
“It was a back-and-forth battle,” Erickson said. “Our defense and Jessie (Chatfield) played awesome, but give Washington State credit for finding a way to win.”
Washington State head coach Matt Potter felt the same way about the game and welcomed the win with open arms. It improved Washington State to 10-7-2 overall and 3-4-1 in conference play.
“It was a difficult game,” Potter said. “Both teams are very evenly matched and it could have gone either way. We are ultimately very excited to get the win.”
Oregon returns home to Pape Field Friday night to play its first of two weekend games to close out the regular season. The Ducks host No. 9 California Friday at 5 p.m. and Stanford at 1 p.m. on Sunday. A win or a tie this weekend guarantees the Ducks their first winning season in school history.

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