The usual suspects were at work again for the Oregon women’s lacrosse team as it closed out its regular season with a 9-7 win against the Ohio Bobcats on Saturday.
Freshmen Jen May and Jana Bradley are becoming a true dual threat for the Ducks as; the pair continued its hot scoring streaks. May scored three goals to complete her seventh hat trick of the season, caused four turnovers and had two assists, and Bradley netted two. Lindsay Killian also added two for the Ducks.
However, defense was the dominating force in the game. Senior goalkeeper Louisa Dorsch pulled out the best performance of her career as a Duck, limiting the Bobcats to just seven goals.
“Louisa had a great game. She gave a brilliant performance, and she and Liora (Lobel, freshman defender) did a great job providing leadership and keeping the defense together,” Oregon head coach Jen Larsen said.
Dorsch played the full 60 minutes of the game, faced 31 shots and made a career-high 17 saves. This was the first time this year that Dorsch has recorded 10 or more saves in a game.
“Louisa has really worked hard and improved a great deal this season,” Larsen said.
The Ducks (5-10 overall, 1-4 MPSF) held the Bobcats (5-10 overall, 1-5, American Lacrosse Conference) to only two goals in the first half as four different Oregon players racked up goals before the break.
The Ducks kept up their intensity in the second half with early goals from May and Bradley, holding their lead for the rest of the game.
“We played consistently throughout the game, getting goals in and holding on to the ball when we had it. We had a consistent 60 minutes of play,” said Larsen, who cited the Ducks’ consistency problems as a concern earlier this season.
“There were definitely some errors throughout the game, but they were never concentrated in a single bad patch, and our defense did an excellent job. We really worked hard for the victory,” she said.
Oregon next travels to St. Mary’s in Moraga, Calif., to compete in
the MPSF Championship tournament held May 5-7. The Ducks are currently seeded fifth in the MPSF conference standings.