Competitive practices are a cornerstone of Oregon soccer head coach Tara Erickson’s coaching philosophy. Every player on the team has to earn their spot on the starting lineup on a weekly basis. As a result, the Ducks have fielded 14 starting lineups in 15 games this year. All told, Erickson has named 20 different starters this year, including eight freshman.
Part of that variation has been due to injury as well. Freshman Bri Pugh was expected to be a big part of the Ducks attack this year, but a nagging ankle injury kept her out of the starting lineup for several games early in the Ducks season.
Now, however, Pugh says she is close to 100 percent. She is among the team leaders in goals with three, one behind team leader Julie Armstrong. Armstrong hasn’t played since a 1-0 loss to Arizona on Oct. 7.
As the season winds down, the Ducks are looking to finish the Pac-12 season strong and hope to steal a spot in the NCAA tournament.
“If we come out hard and win the next five games, I think we might just notch our way into the tournament,” senior goalkeeper Lindsay Parlee said. “We’re still fighting.”
Parlee has seen limited playing time this year due to the performance of freshman keeper Abby Steele, but as one of the few seniors on a team with 12 freshmen, she has played an important leadership role.
“I’m here for the team,” Parlee said. “I play a huge role as a leader on this team, it’s just about knowing your role and being here every day to support (the team).”
Given the strength of their remaining schedule, which includes a game against No.1 Stanford and a trip to Corvallis for a game against No. 23 Oregon State, Parlee thinks the Ducks can have a successful season without postseason play.
“If we come out and play good soccer and we happen to get beat on that day, we can definitely consider it a success,” Parlee said.
The Ducks’ season has been more complex than their 7-7-1 record indicates. One of the high points was a loss on the road to No. 3 UCLA, as the Ducks held the powerhouse Bruins scoreless for nearly 80 minutes before eventually conceding a goal.
The trouble for Oregon this year has been consistency.
“I’ve noticed that in practices, when we do practice at a super intense level, then we have more confidence in the games,” junior Scout Libke said. “I think we started out really strong and then we went through a little bit of a lull where we thought just going to win games based on showing up, but now we’re back at it intensity wise, and I think it’s starting to show.”
Libke said that Oregon’s strong opponents have brought out the team’s best, but when the Ducks played subpar opponents, they went out expecting to win and were burned for it.
One of those instances was a rough trip to the desert when the Ducks failed to score in two games they felt they could have won. Against Arizona, Pugh had seven of the Ducks’ eight shots but didn’t score, and said she took the loss especially hard.
“You get unlucky sometimes, but I think ‘unlucky’ is a bad term used in soccer,” Pugh said. “It’s not unlucky, you need to finish the goal.”
When the Ducks have finished their chances this year, they’ve been hard to beat. The Ducks have only lost one game this year when they managed to put the ball in the back of the net.
The Ducks return to Pape Field this Friday for the first time since Sept. 23 for a game against the Washington Huskies.
Oregon soccer looks to turn it up for stretch run
Daily Emerald
October 18, 2011
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