The Oregon women’s lacrosse team showed some fighting spirit Saturday when it finally clinched its first road victory in
program history.
The Ducks rallied to beat Davidson, 16-6, after suffering a 21-8 loss to North Carolina the night before.
On Friday night, the Tar Heels dominated Oregon throughout most of the game. However, the Ducks went on a 5-2 scoring run in the last five minutes of the first half to enter the second period only five goals down.
“Despite the fact that we ended up losing to North Carolina, that game actually boosted our confidence,” Oregon head coach Jen Larsen said. “Against North Carolina, the score was 6-11 at the half. We did great against the No. 4 ranked team, and that really fired us up.”
Seeking redemption for Friday’s loss, Oregon started the game against Davidson by banging in 12 unanswered goals before the shell-shocked Wildcats managed to respond.
“Once we got out in front, we never looked back. We just did a really great job of stopping the Wildcats’ offense and taking control of the ball each time we had possession,” Larsen said.
The win against Davidson
(4-6) ended Oregon’s three-game losing streak and improved its record to 3-9.
“One of the factors that made a major difference in this game was that we managed to keep the ball out of our defensive end much more than we have in the past,” said Larsen, who highlighted the Ducks’ sometimes leaky defense as a target area that needed improvement in the past. “We simply didn’t give the other team as many chances to score.”
In fact, Oregon held the Wildcats scoreless for the first 10 minutes of the game — not even allowing Davidson a single shot on goal.
The Ducks made just one adjustment to their starting lineup for the Davidson game as freshman defender Carrie Bateman got the nod over freshman Laura Lynch.
Bateman was one of the nine Ducks who scored on Saturday. She had two shots on goal and scored the first goal of the second half on an assist from freshman midfielder Jen May.
“We had a solid effort from everybody. To have nine different Ducks score is to show our offense, not highlighting individuals but the whole unit,” said Larsen.
However, certain individuals
on the team still outshone
the others. As has become characteristic of her, May had a strong game, registering five goals
and two assists. This increased
her team-leading season goal tally to 30.
Oregon senior goaltender Louisa Dorsch started the game and recorded five saves before freshman keeper Allison O’Brien came on in the second half. O’Brien allowed four goals and made a career-high eight saves.
According to Coach Larsen, every Duck on the roster got some playing time against Davidson. “We had a solid effort from everybody. As a team, it’s the best effort we’ve put out so far,” she said. “We’ve finally pieced together a lot of the elements that combine to make for some good lacrosse.”
Oregon will next play a non-league exhibition game against Portland Club on April 9 before returning to NCAA competition with a game against Saint Mary’s in California on April 16.