Lacrosse schedules can be strange. A random disparity in strength-of-opponent can leave two teams from different parts of the country — and different levels of skill — facing off.
Wednesday’s matchup was the most recent example. Just days after a 15-7 routing at the hands of national superpower Rutgers, Oregon (5-1) jumped all over Merrimack (0-5) on its way to a 18-3 victory.
With Oregon dominating early, and Merrimack off to a foreseeably slow start, Anna Simmons — who was held scoreless against Rutgers — had three goals for a hat-trick before Merrimack had a shot on goal. Her trio of tallies came amidst two scores from Morgan McCarthy and a score from Katie Collins making the score 7-0 at the end of the first period.
“She is so great at bouncing back,” Oregon head coach Jessica Drummond said of Simmons. “Nothing lights her fire like a little motivation, seeing her come out and do that today was awesome.”
Merrimack found the net as time wound-down in the first quarter, but the score was quickly erased due to an illegal stick position. Absolutely nothing was going right for the Warriors, while the Ducks were playing in perfect cohesion.
“We really wanted to emphasize finishing our shots,” Drummond said. “There was so many contributors today, really proud of our effort.”
The scoring slowed in the second quarter, as Lauren Rismani and Simmons found the goal for the Ducks before Kaitlin Roach added the first and only tally of the half for Merrimack.
“I didn’t love our second quarter,” Drummond said. “I would have loved to have seen more from us.”
After an underwhelming second quarter that saw the Ducks net just two goals, Drummond implored her squad that they had more to offer against a subpar opponent.
“[Our response] was incredible,” Drummond said. “At half I told the team ‘guys we’ve got more in us.”
Roach opened the second half’s scoring, but Simmons and the Ducks quickly responded. She gracefully weaved past the Warriors to roof her fifth goal of the game, further extending the lead to 10-2.
Just eight seconds later, McCarthy would add another tally after rifling through a lackluster Merrimack defensive front.
Georgia Parker would score once more for the Warriors, but that would be all they could muster. McCarthy, Simmons, Riley Taylor, Jenae Sperling, Jadyn Laing and Kristiana Strtak would combine for the game’s final seven goals.
Rismani finished with five points and was dominant in getting the Ducks’ offense set up.
“She organizes our offense every single day,” Simmons said. “She does it in practice every single day, in our games we all look up to her…. She makes everyone else’s job 100% easier.”
Thayer Hubbard started in goal for the Ducks, saving five shots and letting in three.
Defensively Oregon was led by freshman Lexi Jenkins and allowed just nine shots on goal.
“Our team has so much drive,” Jenkins said postgame. “We all want to compete, we all want to win, we all want to listen… I think that has been huge in bringing us together and helping us really step up as a unit.”
The matchup between the two teams was never going to be close. With the Warriors losing their first four games, and the Ducks looking to bounce back from their only loss, Wednesday’s clash between the squads had all of the makings of a blowout victory.
That’s exactly what ensued, and the result on the field was to little surprise. Oregon outshot, outscored and outplayed the Warriors who looked outmatched throughout.
Lacrosse allows for weird bounces, fluky plays and the occasional upset, but is by definition a talent-based game. Oregon seemingly had all of it Wednesday night at Papé Field.
The Ducks will remain home and welcome Furman (1-4) this Sunday at 10.
