When the Oregon soccer team takes the field for the final game of its season Sunday, thoughts will be about 2001.
The team the Ducks will play, eighth-ranked California, will be looking ahead to the NCAA Tournament. So will Oregon’s Friday opponent, 15th-ranked Stanford.
That underdog mentality may be one of the few advantages that the Ducks will have in this weekend’s games.
Oregon will take on No. 15 Stanford at 7 p.m. Friday and No. 8 California at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

Spank the rankings?
Playing top-flight teams is old hat for the Ducks. They’ve taken on No. 2 Washington, No. 5 UCLA, No. 6 North Carolina, No. 11 Portland, No. 16 Florida State, No. 21 San Diego and No. 25 Southern California this season.
But Oregon hasn’t beaten any of those teams, and has been outclassed in those matches to the tune of 33 goals. The Ducks have scored only twice on those teams.
Oregon’s schedule, however, has prepared it for games exactly like this weekend’s.
“We’re used to accommodating that level of play,” Oregon head coach Bill Steffen said. “If you’re used to playing [top-ranked teams] there isn’t as much pressure.”
This weekend’s games will mark the third time this season that the Ducks will face ranked foes in consecutive games, and the first time this season they will play three top-25 teams in a row.

Breaking the trend
The Ducks will try to break a five-game winless streak this weekend in the Bay Area. Oregon only has two wins since opening the season 2-0 against San Jose State and Idaho.
Yet somehow the Ducks have stayed afloat in the Pacific-10 Conference. Oregon’s 2-0 win against Arizona Sept. 8 was enough to keep it out of the Pac-10’s cellar, as the Wildcats and Oregon State are still without a conference win. The Beavers have the same schedule as the Ducks, while Arizona will take on No. 5 UCLA and No. 25 USC this weekend. Oregon needs two wins to catch USC and Arizona State in sixth and seventh places, respectively. If successful, the chance that Oregon will finish eighth in the conference seems locked in place.

One more time… wait,

no injuries

Just when it looked like the Ducks would never play a Pac-10 game with their full starting lineup, Lindsey Peterson had to go and get healthy.
Peterson was the last in a long line of injuries that disrupted Oregon’s Pac-10 schedule. First, it was forwards Crystal Davidand Beth Bowler. Then T.J. Johnson went out, and Julie McLellan missed a game with the flu. Peterson was the next to go down. The Ducks were applying Band-Aids left and right, sending Chalise Baysa up front and playing the entire bench against Arizona.
But now, it looks like Oregon may get a full game with all its starters. Peterson healed her sprained ankle and sophomore goalie Sarah Peters, who bruised her hand against Washington State last Friday, played the entire second half Sunday against Washington. Both are listed as probable for this weekend’s games.
Maybe the full lineup will translate into a win or two to finish the Ducks’ season.