Oregon soccer coach Tara Erickson need worry no longer whether Nicole Garbin, the team’s leading goal-scorer in 2005, will return.
On Thursday, the NCAA granted Garbin a sixth year of eligibility due to medical hardship.
Garbin, the University’s career record-holder for game-winning goals (13), assists (14) and shots (173), led the Ducks to their second .500 season in program history last year. Oregon finished 9-9-1 in 2005, which gave the Ducks a ninth-place finish in the Pacific-10 Conference.
Garbin wasn’t surprised at all in receiving another year of eligibility.
“I was just told over and over again that it was for sure,” she said.
Garbin added that it never crossed her mind last year that she would not be playing for Oregon in 2006.
“I had it in the back of mind that I’d be back. I just tried to focus on staying healthy,” she said. “I knew I needed to work hard in the offseason for this year.”
Garbin made her presence felt last year as an offensive workhorse. She set an Oregon single-season record with 10 goals. Seven were game-winners, another single-season best.
Erickson, who is starting her second year as coach at Oregon, feels that Garbin can change the outcome of any game.
“Nicole is one of the best players in the Pac-10,” Erickson said in a University press release. “She’s a real difference-maker in terms of the impact she can have on a game.”
Oregon is 26-27-3 when Garbin plays and 5-28-5 when she does not.
Her sixth year was granted in light of suffering a season-ending knee injury in the spring of 2004. The knee injury wasn’t a first for the Wailuku, Hawaii, native. She tore an anterior cruciate ligament in her knee two years earlier, which sidelined her for the 2002 season.
Garbin’s 2005 season is now listed retroactively as her junior year.
Garbin’s return was one of announcements Erickson made Thursday.
Joining the Ducks’ promising incoming group are walk-on midfielders Adriana Montes and Kara Beasley. Montes scored 15 goals in each of her seasons at Willamette High School and earned all-Midwestern League honors in three of those years.
Beasley was an all-state first team selection for Wilson High School in 2004. She made the first milestone of her young career on Sunday by scoring the game-winning goal in Oregon’s exhibition game with Seattle University.
Garbin sees offensive potential in both walk-ons.
“The walk-ons are showing some great stuff,” she said. “Their commitment is just awesome.”
Oregon was not without early departures in the offseason. Sarah Yoro, Madison Cheek, Sabrina DeMonte, Lisa Tedford and Kaily Winther have all left the program.
DeMonte, who played 18 games as a redshirt junior in 2005, is scheduled to graduate this June. She chose to forego her final year of eligibility.
Yoro played in 12 games in 2005 as a freshman. She will transfer to Azusa Pacific.
Tedford chose to leave the program but not Oregon. She will attend the University solely as a student.
Tedford and Winther did not play last year. Winther played in three games during an injury-plagued career.
Cheek played in 16 games last season. Her early exit was a surprise to Garbin.
“She talked about how much she liked being on the team,” Garbin said. “And she always brought intensity in practice and at games.”
The Ducks return to Pape Field for an exhibition May 12.

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