Oregon women’s lacrosse returned to Pape Field over the weekend to take on the Denver Pioneers in the Ducks’ first home game of spring term. The Ducks hoped to break Pioneers’ seven-game winning streak and drop them in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings. However, Denver wasn’t going to give up the game easily and it showed late.
In a tight scoring match, Denver was able to hold the lead when it counted, in the final seconds, making multiple saves at the net and securing a 14-13 win over Oregon. Denver is now 11-2 overall with a nine-game winning streak after defeating Stony Brook University Sunday afternoon. Oregon fell to 6-6 overall and 2-2 in the MPSF.
While the game may have been a loss for Oregon, the Ducks kept up the pressure and maintained their intensity throughout the entire match. With less than two minutes remaining, Oregon caused two turnovers that resulted in two shot attempts, including a free position attempt by sophomore attacker Jana Bradley with only 17 seconds remaining.
“We created two turnovers and got ourselves inside the eight-meter circle and got a transition opportunity,” said Oregon coach Jen Larsen. “That’s all you can ask for. We just need to take advantage of those opportunities.”
Win or lose, the Ducks have continued to improve and break school records. Friday’s game was no exception. Redshirt freshman attacker Alison Leiner scored six out of the 13 goals for Oregon. Leiner’s record breaks the previous five-goal record held by sophomore midfielder Kate Fleming and also by freshman attacker Ilsa van den Berg.
Leiner spent most of last season on the sideline after breaking her foot midseason. This season she was picked as one of three captains to represent the Ducks.
Heading into tonight’s game against Stony Brook, Leiner has racked up 38 points individually, 17 from goals and 21 from assists. She has had the most assists for Oregon and the highest total points. Van den Berg, Fleming and Jen May are right behind Liener in individual points. Van den Berg has scored 23 goals this season and has seven assists, while Fleming has scored 22 goals and has six assists. Oregon’s MVP last season, May, has scored 14 goals and has 14 assists.
Tonight, Oregon will take on Stony Brook at Pape Field beginning at 7 p.m. The Seawolves have traveled from New York to play the Ducks in their last match of a three-game West Coast road trip.
The Seawolves are currently 5-5 overall after falling to Denver on Sunday at Pape Field 14-13 and losing to UC Davis last week 13-12.
This is the first matchup against the Seawolves for Oregon. Prior to this season, the only MPSF team Stony Brook had played was Denver last year.