The Oregon soccer team was like a big balloon heading into Wednesday’s matchup with No. 4 Portland at Papé Field. The Ducks were confident after wins over No. 19 San Diego and Eastern Washington last weekend, and had the word “upset” on their tongues.
But the Pilots wasted no time in popping the Duck balloon. Portland scored early and often, and handed Oregon its second loss of the season, 3-0.
“We didn’t really show up mentally,” Oregon head coach Bill Steffen said. “You have to go 100 percent, 100 percent of the time. We didn’t do that.”
The Pilot victory ended the Ducks’ longest-ever win streak at four, and moved Oregon to 5-2-1 on the season. Portland improved to 8-1-0, with the Pilots’ only loss coming to No. 2 UCLA.
Oregon could have scored first and perhaps prevented the Pilot onslaught that occurred early in the first half. In the second minute of the game, Duck freshman Nicole Garbin had the ball with only the Portland goalkeeper to beat, but Cristin Shea made a nice save on the try.
“Portland is a very patient team, and if we score first, it forces them to press the issue,” Steffen said. “Any time we can get a goal is important, but especially then, against Portland.”
Garbin’s shot was stopped, and the momentum shifted to Portland. Less than a minute after Garbin’s attempt, Oregon defender Lindsey Peterson fouled a Portland player just outside the Ducks’ 18-yard box. On the ensuing free kick, Kristen Moore found a streaking Lisa Casagrande, whose shot beat Oregon goalkeeper Sarah Peters to put the Pilots up 1-0.
Ten minutes later, Casagrande struck again. On what would have been a broken play if the Ducks were playing football, Peters tried to clear the ball, but hit a Portland player instead. The ball skidded off the endline, and Casagrande got to the ball and scored before Peters could get into position for the save.
The Pilots still did not let up on the Ducks, playing tough defense on Oregon’s offensive stars. With 23 minutes left in the half, Portland struck again, when freshman Christine Sinclair turned in traffic and fired from the top of the 18-yard box, beating Peters in the upper right-hand corner of the net.
Oregon came out of halftime with energy, and out-shot the Pilots 9-4 in the second half.
“The second half was more our game,” senior forward Crystal David said. “We were very upset at halftime; we know we’re a lot stronger than that.”
Some of Oregon’s best chances to score came at the end of the game. With a minute and a half left in the contest, junior midfielder Julie McLellan took one of her patented flip throw-ins, sending the ball towards the Portland goal. Senior forward Chalise Baysa — Oregon’s all-time leading scorer and a member of last week’s Soccer Buzz National Elite Team of the week — flipped a header that nearly beat Shae.
One minute later, Baysa added another shot on another McLellan throw-in, but Shea once again stoned the star, and Oregon remained scoreless. The Ducks have never scored on the Pilots, in four games against the elite team.
“We had a lot of chances in the second half,” said David, who had a shot of her own miss the Portland net by inches. “Three-nothing doesn’t tell the story of the game.”
In the end, Steffen said the bad start cost the Ducks.
“We never want to give up a goal, but to give up a couple soft goals really hurt us,” Steffen said.
Oregon will take on Portland State Sunday at 1 p.m. on Papé Field, and Steffen said the Ducks will take from Portland a lesson in “showing up.” Oregon starts Pacific-10 Conference play next week, with top-ranked foes No. 6 Stanford and No. 7 California coming to Eugene.