The Oregon women’s soccer team started its 2000 season knowing the road to a first-ever NCAA Tournament bid was littered with potholes.
No. 1 North Carolina, No. 2 Washington and No. 6 UCLA were the names of those potholes, among others, and the Ducks were unable to overcome them.
Oregon ended the season with a 4-15-1 record and without a trip to the NCAA Tournament. But the record is deceptive and doesn’t reveal its future importance.
“When we look back on it, I think we realize what a difficult task we attempted,” Oregon head coach Bill Steffen said. “The players feel a little better knowing it’s behind them, knowing they’ve gone through it. I think the season gave them a lot of mental conditioning.”
With a program struggling in the always-tough Pacific-10 Conference, Steffen knew he had to make drastic changes to bring the quality of Oregon soccer to the level of other Pac-10 schools. So, he had his team run the gauntlet of nine top-25 teams.
As a result, the Ducks lost nine games by a combined score of 41-2 to those top-ranked foes.
But the Ducks showed improvement towards the middle of the season and at the beginning of their Pac-10 slate. After playing No. 16 Florida State to a close 1-0 loss, the Ducks played tough against Arizona State before beating Arizona 2-0 on the same weekend.
Then, Oregon faced top-ranked UCLA and Southern California and never fully recovered from the drubbing it received at the hands of those two teams. The Ducks were scored on 11 times that weekend and didn’t win a game for the rest of the season.
Steffen remains optimistic about the team’s chances for next season.
“The fact that they’ve been through this and lasted through this is very encouraging,” Steffen said.
Also encouraging for Steffen is next year’s roster. The Ducks will take a hit in the midfield, losing Allyssa White, Melissa Parker and T.J. Johnson to graduation. But the team will return all of its forwards and defenders, as well as the top two goalies, for the 2001 season. Not to mention that the returning midfielders — Chalise Baysa, Annie Murphy and Dara Wone — will be able to more than fill the holes left behind by the seniors.
While hesitant to use the word “rebuild” to describe the 2000 season, Steffen is still encouraged about his returning lineup.
Steffen’s personal most valuable player for this season was a no-brainer.
“You have to point to Chalise [Baysa],” Steffen said. “She gets the attention from other teams, as well as handling a lot of the play because of her position.”
Baysa was the team’s leading goal-scorer this season, and surpassed Erin Anderson as the Ducks’ all-time leading scorer midway through the 2000 campaign.
Baysa and the rest of the Oregon team will try to navigate the tough Pac-10 road again next season — but in 2001 they will be older, wiser and more battle-tested than this season
UO soccer reflects on a tough season, looks to future
Daily Emerald
November 7, 2000
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