The Oregon women’s lacrosse team battled in a close game against Denver on Friday, but ultimately fell 11-9. The Ducks must now win their game against Colorado on Sunday to have a chance to advance to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs.
Denver started out the game on a 2-0 run before Oregon’s Rachel Steinberg scored, assisted by Cambi Cukar, with 23:18 left in the first period.
Denver increased its lead by two when Christa Reece scored an unassisted goal with 17:09 on the clock.
Within the next twelve minutes, Oregon’s Natalie Modly and Bella Pyne both scored to tie the score at three.
Denver then went on a 2-0 run to end the first period leading 5-3.
Reece scored her second goal of the game less than two minutes into the second period to increase Denver’s lead to 6-3. Oregon’s Holly Johnson scored three minutes later to lessen Oregon’s deficit to two.
Denver’s Kendra Lanuza scored two goals less than a minute apart to give Denver an 8-4 lead. Only 20 seconds later, Denver added another goal to put the score at 9-4 with 16:40 left in the game.
Oregon got back on the board with 14:30 left on the clock when Pyne scored her second goal of the day. Reece scored less than two minutes later to increase Denver’s lead to five.
Oregon’s Carly O’Connell scored three goals within three minutes to quickly lessen Oregon’s deficit from five to two with 7:59 left to play.
Denver’s Caitlin Derry scored at 5:54, before O’Connell scored her fourth goal of the day, putting Oregon down by two with 2:22 on the clock.
Oregon was unable to score again, and the game ended with Denver leading 11-9.
Cukar recorded three assists to tie Shannon Propst’s single-season school record of 44.
Mariah Gatti went down due to injury around five minutes into the start of the game, as did Carly O’Connell near the end of the second period.
Oregon may be without those players but could potentially clinch a MPSF playoff spot against Colorado on Sunday.
Coach Jen Beck looks to “regroup” before Oregon’s the upcoming game.
“We’ve got a really great Colorado team coming,” Beck said. “We’ve got two people, who have been getting significant minutes, probably not going to be playing on Sunday, so we’ve got to shift things quickly.”
Follow Kylee O’Connor on Twitter @KyleeTheMightee