No. 20 Oregon (3-1, 2-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) split two weekend non-conference matches, losing 16-4 against No. 1 North Carolina (2-0) on Friday and beating Davidson (0-2) convincingly 14-1 on Sunday.
Juniors Jenny Browne, Kate Fleming and Theresa Waldron and redshirt sophomore Alison Leiner all netted one goal in the Ducks’ first loss of the year against the Tar Heels.
Leiner scored the first goal of the match before North Carolina went on an 8-0 spree to close the first half and a three-goal run in the second that all but finalized the outcome.
Senior Brooke Dieringer, who transferred from North Carolina last year, had one assist in the loss, which also marked the return of current Oregon coach Jen Larsen, a former Tar Heel assistant.
Oregon goalkeeper Anna Poponyak, who had led the MPSF in goals-against average by only giving up eight scores prior to facing the Tar Heels, struggled to stop North Carolina’s offense. She allowed ten goals and made only one save.
Freshman Kristen Taylor recorded a game-high three goals for the Tar Heels and freshman Megan Bosica and junior Erica LaGrow each had two goals and an assist.
The outcome was quite different on Sunday, as the Ducks made the scoring runs this time against Davidson. Fleming scored a game-high five goals and sophomore Ilsa van den Berg recorded her third hat trick of 2007. Those contributions were part of a 13-goal Oregon scoring drive that ensued after Davidson’s Becky Horton evened the score at 1-1 just minutes into the first half.
Sophomore Casey Rector and freshman Jenna Barnes each scored two goals, and Rector added an assist. Junior Jen May led the team with three caused turnovers and also scored a goal.
The Ducks outshot the Wildcats 31-6 and put 23 of those shots on goal, forcing Davidson goalkeeper Laura Johnson into eight saves. Against the Wildcats’ other goalkeeper, Michelle Pav, Oregon continued its attack by landing three goals in the last nine minutes of the match. Conversely, Poponyak needed to make only two saves and allowed just one goal. Freshman Sam Debow replaced her with 14:09 remaining and was not forced to make any saves.
Larsen said she expected her team to improve on limiting turnovers, and Oregon did just that against Davidson. They had 12 turnovers on the day, compared to Davidson’s 21. Oregon’s number of turnovers has improved each match, as the Ducks recorded 12 against North Carolina, 17 against UC Davis and 23 in their season-opening upset against Stanford.
The Ducks will travel back east this weekend to battle No. 3 Georgetown on Friday and the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) on Sunday. Georgetown lost to No. 12 James Madison 14-10 on Saturday to open its season, and UMBC improved to 2-1 after beating Bucknell 13-5 on Friday.