The second season of the Oregon women’s lacrosse team has reached the home stretch with one game remaining in the regular season. The Ducks (8-7 overall) have already surpassed last season’s record (6-11).
The past week has been a roller coaster of wins and losses for the Ducks, who earned two victories early in the week on Tuesday and Thursday, but ended the week with a loss on Saturday.
Last Tuesday at Pape Field, Oregon had a fight-to-the-finish match against Stony Brook. The Ducks defeated the New York school 13-11.
Last season’s MVP, sophomore Jen May, had a stand-out performance against Stony Brook. She tied the school record, scoring six goals in a single game. The record was originally set by redshirt freshman Alison Leiner on April 7.
“Alison is my favorite person to play with on the team,” May said.
“When we got here last year, we just connected on the field.”
Beyond tying the six-goal record, May also caused three turnovers.
To round out the rest of the week’s matches, the Ducks headed on another East Coast road trip to play Holy Cross College on Thursday followed by No. 11 Boston University on Saturday.
In Worcester, Mass., Oregon defeated Holy Cross in another tight scoring match, beating the Crusaders 14-13.
The Ducks scored two goals in the final two minutes of the match, including May’s game-winning goal with only 21 seconds remaining.
With 1:44 left in the match, freshman Ilsa van den Berg scored an unassisted goal to tie the match. The Ducks then gained possession on the draw control and held the ball for May’s winning shot.
“This was an overall team effort in all facets of the game, from goalkeeper to the defense and offense,” Oregon coach Jen Larsen said. “We were poised with the ball and very tenacious on defense.”
After coming off two straight wins, Oregon traveled to Boston to face the Boston University Terriers. The Terriers were coming into the game with a three- game winning streak, a 9-3 record with 19 consecutive wins at home and a No. 11 national ranking.
After Saturday’s match, Boston is now 10-3 with 20 consecutive wins at home. Oregon lost 19-8 in the non-conference match at Nickerson Field.
The Ducks were paced by sophomore Lindsay Killian, who scored three goals for Oregon.
Sophomore Jana Bradley also added a pair of goals to the score and had an assist. Leiner led Oregon with two assists.
Boston outshot the Ducks 39-17, but sophomore goalkeeper Anna Poponyak was able to make nine saves at the net for Oregon.
Oregon returns to Pape Field on Sunday April 30 to play its final match of the regular season against fellow Mountain Pacific Sports Federation team, the California Golden Bears. Cal is currently 5-9 overall with a 2-1 conference record.
After Sunday’s match, Oregon will host this season’s MPSF Tournament beginning May 5-7 at Pape Field.