On a day when eight St. Mary’s seniors made their final regular season appearances at home, the Oregon women’s lacrosse team managed to spoil their party.
The Ducks’ youthful enthusiasm triumphed over the experienced Gaels as Oregon beat St. Mary’s, 16-8, in Moraga, Calif. Oregon proved that its first win against the Gaels in a non-conference game at Papé Field earlier this season was more than a fluke.
The win gave the Ducks their first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation victory. Oregon improved to 4-9 overall, with a
1-3 record in the MPSF. St. Mary’s dropped to 1-11 and is 0-5 in the MPSF.
The game was a score-fest for Oregon, with goals coming from eight different Ducks. Jen May, Theresa Waldron, Jana Bradley, Kate Fleming and Emily Fowler all scored two apiece.
Waldron and Fowler had two assists each, and May proved to be solid on defense, forcing three turnovers by the Gaels.
Freshman attacker Lindsay Killian also stood out, notching four goals and one assist. Killian now stands fourth on the team with 20 goals this season.
Despite what the statistics might say, the Ducks had to work a little harder to clinch victory this time around. Oregon took some time to get its momentum going. The Gaels initially kept the game close, managing to respond to each of the first six goals scored by the Ducks.
The St. Mary’s seniors played with inspiration, with six of the eight Gaels goals coming from the graduating class.
Seniors Rosy Iaccino, Dearborn David and Lauren Riggers all found the net in the first half and kept the game within reach for the Gaels until halftime. Iaccino ended the game with three goals, and David had two.
St. Mary’s senior goalkeeper Katie Augustine played a solid game, registering 16 saves for the Gaels against Oregon’s 42 attempted shots throughout the game.
“We did not come out very connected in the very beginning,” Oregon head coach Jen Larsen said. “But we made some great adjustments before the end of the first half and were able to come out on top.”
Oregon also capitalized on some transition goals, which Larsen said was one of the Ducks’ strengths.
“We’re getting good at scoring off the transition,” Larsen said. “We got some key goals that way.”
With about four minutes left in the first half and the score tied at six, freshman attacker Fleming scored a pair of goals for the Ducks, giving Oregon a slim 8-6 lead over the Gaels at halftime.
Then the Ducks tweaked their game plan.
“At the half, we made some adjustments on the defensive end and worked on changing some matchups to shut out their better players,” Larsen said.
The changes Oregon made turned the game around in the second half. May kick-started Oregon’s resurgence by scoring two goals within the first 10 minutes. After that, the Ducks finally found their rhythm, scoring six more unanswered goals.
Oregon held St. Mary’s scoreless until the last four minutes of
the game, when Gaels attacker
Iaccino was finally able to complete her hattrick, scoring on a pass from freshman Jen Utley.
In goal for the Ducks, senior goaltender Louisa Dorsch started the game for Oregon and made five saves before freshman Allison O’Brien took over in the second half.
The Ducks will travel to the Bay Area this weekend to play California on Sunday at noon.