Looking at each of the opening weeks of Oregon lacrosse’s (3-2) season individually can tell drastically different things, especially on the defensive end.

The Ducks opened the season 3-0, highlighted by a 12-11 comeback win in overtime over the ASU Sun Devils, but the defense didn’t always come easy. Throughout the opening three games, Oregon allowed its opponent to score in double-digits twice, which was something that’s come back to haunt the Ducks in the two contests since. Against the Cal Golden Bears, the Ducks fell behind 7-3 by halftime and 12-4 by the end of the third quarter.

“(The start) was an unfortunate surprise,” head coach Jessica Drummond said, after the 14-9 loss to Cal. “I was like ‘Dang it, we’re not here. We’re still not here yet.’ It just took us a while to show up and play.” In the opening half, the Ducks were outran, mostly. Five early turnovers led to three Cal goals, which can be attributed to a lack of aggressiveness in midfield, especially on transition.

“The transition really killed us,” Drummond said. “Having those great stops and then losing the ball in transition for them to score off of, those are stops we should be having and then getting the ball to the offense for them to score goals.”

Oregon’s midfielders — especially the team’s nucleus, senior Anna Simmons — failed to control the ball effectively. Simmons, who leads the team on the season with 10 caused turnovers (and is also tied for second-most among Big Ten players), caused just one in the loss, which proved a microcosm of the larger issue at hand: the Ducks struggled to win the ball back.

That became important due to the fact that in each of the two previous losses, Oregon won fewer draws (face-offs) than its opponent against both Cal (12-13) and East- ern Michigan University (10-13). Winning fewer draws means a team will have the ball much less than its opponent and lack sufficient scoring opportunities.

Against Eastern Michigan, the Ducks grappled with this as they faced an Eagles team that relished the opportunity to move the ball around the point to wait out shot clocks and find the perfect chance at goal. Eastern Michigan’s slow offense allowed itself to score to take the lead in the second quarter while also becoming an effective tactic in preventing an Oregon comeback in both the third and fourth quarters.

“We have to get the ball on the draw to have the ball on offense,” Drummond said after the loss against Eastern Michigan. “Not letting them have those long possessions (which wear) us down, and we gotta be ready for those at any point in the game.”

It’s worth noting that the Ducks led in draw controls 5-4 after the opening period, which led to a 5-3 lead. Eastern Michigan settled in after that and secured six draws compared to Oregon’s two while also tak- ing a 9-7 lead before halftime.

“I think it matters how we show up. We kind of wait in the first half sometimes, and we keep talking about as a team showing up and starting the game and finishing a full 60 minutes,” Drummond said.

These are all wrinkles that the early part of the season is meant to help smooth out, and can be great signs of things to come if the Ducks can put it all together and figure out a way to string together a few wins heading into conference play.

Oregon will take on Delaware State University at Papé Field this Wednesday at noon.