The Oregon women’s soccer team failed to earn its first road victory of the year this weekend in the
Bay Area.
The injury-riddled Ducks lost 2-0 to Stanford in a tight match on Friday and fell behind early against California Sunday, losing 5-1. The two losses dropped the Ducks to 3-12-2 overall and 0-6-1 in the Pacific-10 Conference.
A combination of injuries and a lack of aggressiveness on offense have left the Ducks trying
to play catch-up during each
conference match.
For the weekend, the Ducks managed a total of only nine shots, while Stanford and Cal had 37 combined. Oregon was outpaced in shots on goal, 19-7, as well.
With many players sidelined due to injuries, a number of Oregon freshmen are seeing a generous amount of playing time. The Ducks routinely start two freshmen — forward Kami Kapaku and midfielder Dylann Tharp — and run up to four off the bench.
The youth the Ducks put out on the field causes additional problems.
“Our youth makes us think that we could have a good game twice in a row without having to earn it,” Oregon head coach Bill Steffen said. “You have to earn every minute, especially in the Pac-10.”
Ducks fall behind
early to Cal
It took No. 13 Cal less than 30 seconds to get on the board Sunday.
Cal’s Caroline Lea netted a
10-yard shot 18 seconds into the match off an assist by Dania Cabello.
The Golden Bears added goals at 16:57 by Liz Eisenberg on an assist by Chioma Igwe, and by Jenny Wendell at 34:01 on a penalty kick to take a 3-0 lead into halftime.
“We played well today,” California head coach Kevin Boyd said after Sunday’s match. “We showed up with a lot of life and spirit to us. Caroline (Lea) getting a goal in the first 20 seconds was an indicator that we were ready to go.”
The Ducks scored their only goal of the weekend at the 57:57 mark of the second half, when freshman Gennaka Fox netted the first goal of her career off an assist by Kapaku. Fox had come into the match less than a minute before scoring.
“I’ve been trying to score for
a while, so it was a little odd
to get the
chance so quickly,”
Fox said. “But
I’ll take what I
can get.”
Cal added goals from Sierra Schlesinger and Katie Ratican in the second half.
Oregon
goalkeeper Domenique Lainez had one save before being replaced by Emily Marrer in the second half. Marrer finished with four saves.
Ducks lose close
match on Friday
Oregon took a 0-0 tie into the 80th minute against Stanford on
Friday before surrendering two goals in the last 10 minutes.
Stanford’s Shari Summers scored the go-ahead goal at 80:34 on a 13-yard shot from the right box to the left corner of the net. Natalie Sanderson added an insurance goal two minutes later.
For the Ducks, Kapaku led the team in shots (3) and shots on goal (3). Junior midfielder Carlie Ashcraft added two shots, both
on goal.
As a team, Stanford held an advantage in shots (18-5), shots on goal (8-5) and corner kicks (9-0).
“We played better in the second half,” Steffen said. “Stanford is one of the deeper teams in the Pac-10 and also very good technically top to bottom. Our work rate and effort level helped make up for some of their possession time advantages. We created some chances in the second half, but couldn’t convert.”

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