Little about senior lacrosse attacker Theresa Waldron surprises teammate Lindsay Killian.
Having known Waldron since the two met on a sixth-grade basketball team in their hometown of Liverpool, N.Y., Killian is accustomed to her friend’s abilities on the field, and aversion to the spotlight off of it.
“She is such a modest person,” Killian said, a fellow senior attacker.
Waldron would rather see the credit go to her fellow Ducks.
“I usually just try to help my teammates as much as I can,” Waldron said. “I give my teammates a lot of credit.”
Self-effacing front notwithstanding, if Oregon (11-6 overall, 2-3 MPSF), can advance through the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament that starts today, Waldron is one of the reasons why.
Waldron sits near or at the top of several statistics this season, ranking third in goals (26), second in points (49), first in shooting percentage (56 percent), first in assists (23) and first in shots on goal percentage (85 percent).
“I don’t think she understands how good she is,” Killian said.
Fourth-seeded Oregon plays UC Davis (6-10, 1-4 MPSF), the fifth seed, in the first round of the tournament, held in Berkeley, Calif., today at 1 p.m. The Ducks hold a 3-2 all-time series lead over the Aggies, with both losses in the program’s first season. Regardless of Oregon’s record, the Ducks are guaranteed to play three games.
Head coach Jen Larsen said the “silent” Waldron has given the Ducks a threat on offense because of her skills as a passer.
“Her sight and vision are way more of an asset to our offense,” said Larsen, who has seen Waldron start 66 of the 71 games she’s played in since her freshman season. “She definitely makes her mark with the offense.”
Larsen usually sets Waldron up behind the goal when Oregon has possession, a place where she “can see the whole field and see my teammates.” From there, Waldron has the option to pass or score – something New Hampshire and Vermont experienced during Oregon’s final regular season games two weekends ago, when the senior combined for four goals and seven assists.
“I want to look up and see my teammates doing the cuts,” Waldron said.
Playing in the shadow of teammates like all-American Jen May and leading scorer Ilsa van den Berg, Waldron has been able to flourish. During an up-and-down season that has seen the Ducks go from unranked at the beginning, to No. 12 on March 22 and now out of the polls, Waldron has surpassed her previous bests for points, assists and points.
She still gets the feeling that some teams forget about her.
“I definitely get that feeling,” Waldron said. “They (opponents) might not see me as a top-notch player, but I’m trying to prove them wrong.”
It should be noted that Waldron, like most of her senior teammates who were the first recruiting class in the program’s history, almost didn’t come to Eugene.
Killian, who took to the lacrosse and field hockey fields with Waldron in seventh grade, had to coax her friend into even considering the school. She finally broke through by asking, “C’mon we have nothing to lose.”
“I definitely took the visit because of her,” Waldron said. “I was like ‘What’s Oregon?’”
Waldron, a journalism major, says she doesn’t have any plans for next year. Going into possibly her final three days of collegiate lacrosse, all she wants are three wins and a first-ever MPSF title.
“I’m going to cherish this moment,” she said.
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