Last season, Arizona State upended Oregon in Tempe to finish the regular season 9-7-4, clinching a postseason berth and leaving Oregon on the NCAA tournament bubble. That was Nov. 8, 2009.
On Oct. 31, 2010, the Ducks reversed the scenario and earned revenge.
The Ducks (7-8-3) held serve at Pape Field on the shoulders of goals from sophomore Scout Libke and senior Mercedes Walters Sunday. Oregon totaled only four shots in the contest, but still produced the 2-0 win over Arizona State. Libke’s strike was from 25 yards out and opened the scoring in the seventh minute. Oregon head coach Tara Erickson was all smiles after the match.
“It’s bothered Scout up until now that she’s only scored one goal all season,” Erickson said. “Her second really came at a good time, one of the nicest shots I’ve seen.”
Despite notching 10 shots, the Sun Devils could not find the net. Arizona State’s leading goal-scorer Karin Volpe saw only 46 minutes of action and was held to two shots. While some statistics favor Arizona State, Oregon senior Jen Stoltenberg saw her team as the dominant force.
“We’re really coming together as a unit and just working to get those wins,” Stoltenberg said. “We set it up very nicely today and just played hard.”
Winless in its first four conference matches, the Ducks have stepped on the accelerator and picked up three consecutive victories. For the first time all season, Oregon appears to be getting constant scoring contributions from players other than Stoltenberg. While it’s tempting to the hot-streaking Ducks as a totally different unit than earlier in the year, Erickson maintains that they’ve always had the potential to succeed.
“We really just didn’t get a lot of breaks early in the schedule,” Erickson said. “I can see that we’re very fluid, but also having Jen (Stoltenberg) in the back forces others to score goals and I’m confident with how we’ve been playing.”
Ducks down Wildcats
Whether or not the team dynamic has changed since week one, new offensive weapons emerged as scorers over the weekend. Sophomore Mo Fitzgerald found the back of the net twice against Arizona on Friday evening. The scores instigated a 4-0 rout of Arizona. Senior Rianna Mansfield opened scoring just two minutes into the contest and sophomore Maddy Mercier capped the scoring for Oregon. For both players, it was their first goal of the season. Fitzgerald touched on the team’s mentality after Friday’s game.
“I think we’re just tired of losing one goal games,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re all playing together now and I think the seniors would have wanted it to come earlier, but now we’re all playing for them.”
The Ducks outshot Arizona 16-6 on Friday, and Parlee split time with junior Cody Miles in the combined shutout win. The resounding victory was a table setter for Sunday’s senior day contest, the last at Pape Field. It was a new look for the Ducks, one which Erickson said the team would strive to keep.
“Our goals were really selfless,” Erickson said. “The teamwork was there and Stoltenberg is approaching a record but made some really selfless plays which led to goals.”
Oregon outscored its opponents 6-0 over the weekend, topping two teams which beat them in 2009. It was the Arizona State loss last year which kept Oregon out of postseason tournament play, but the Ducks might just return the favor to the Sun Devils while still jockeying for a tournament spot.
Oregon now sits at 7-8-3 heading into the final pair of matches next weekend. Oregon must have at least a .500 record to be considered for the postseason, which means a win and a draw would get them in. The squad will have their work cut out for them, facing Cal and Stanford on the road. Cal is in a similar position to the Ducks, just trying to climb to .500 and move on, while Stanford is ranked No. 4 in the country, with 18 wins and two losses this season.
Shortly after Oregon topped Arizona State on senior day, the talk was about next week’s matches. But Erickson pointed out that without the Ducks’ success over the last two weeks, the next two matches would not be nearly as important.
“We controlled the ball and made good decisions,” Erickson said. “We asked the team to come out with high energy and I like their continuing presence to push for goals.”
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