Everything in the game against the Bruins on Friday night had built up to that single, magical moment.
First there was the opening goal, a 63rd minute unassisted shot engineered by Allison Newton that served as a warning to No. 3 UCLA – Oregon (12-6-2 overall, 6-1-2 Pacific-10 Conference) meant business.
Then UCLA (17-3 , 8-1) equalized when the Bruins benefited from an Oregon own goal caused by a Ducks’ defensive error in the 78th minute.
Then Oregon defender Dylann Tharp saved the game for the Ducks when, with 45 seconds left in regulation, UCLA striker Christina DiMartino beat Ducks goalkeeper Jessie Chatfield in the left corner of the six-yard box, and fired a shot that would have won the game for the Bruins if Tharp had not thrown herself in between the goalposts and blocked the ball with her body.
Then there was overtime. Both teams made several promising shots. But both goalkeepers kept coming up with big saves.
Finally, with 2:30 remaining in the second overtime period, Newton lined up for the throw-in and found Nicole Garbin open in the UCLA penalty box. The 558 fans at Papé Field held their breath as Garbin spun around her defender, looked around frantically, feet working furiously to maintain possession of the ball.
The Ducks’ 6th-year senior and star striker somehow found an open lane to the right side of the net, and sent the ball past the keeper by the near post and into the back of the goal.
In that single moment, the Pac-10’s perennial bottom-dweller – a team that had not had a winning season in 10 years and the team that everyone had picked to finish last – had defeated the conference giants.
Oregon had triumphed over No. 3 UCLA, 2-1 in double overtime, off Garbin’s goal in the second-to-last home game of her career.
The Ducks clustered together in a rowdy group in the middle of the field, jumping around, and taking in the sight of the crowd fans on its feet, cheering.
“There are not enough words to describe how I feel,” Oregon coach Tara Erickson said. “We had a number of soccer alums in the stands crying because it meant so much to them. It was like they were a part of this win, and in a way they were because they know how far we’ve come.”
But the Ducks didn’t stop there.
For the first time in program history, Senior Day on Sunday did not mean the end of soccer season for the Ducks. Oregon came out hungry, determined to end its regular season on a high note, with a win at home for the seniors against USC.
Rachel Grushkin, one of the four seniors honored by the Ducks before the game, got her first start of the season when she lined up in the front next to Garbin at kickoff.
Prior to the USC game, Grushkin had only played twice this season. But 7 minutes into the action, she justified Erickson’s confidence in her abilities by contributing the assist that resulted in the Ducks’ first goal.
USC scored on a goalkeeper error in the 36th minute, but the Trojans never really threatened the Ducks thereafter. Garbin punctuated her final home game with two goals scored in the 43rd minute and the 77th minute, and the Ducks won 3-1.
“It’s Senior Day. All the luck’s on my side,” Garbin said. “All our alumni was here and I knew that having a winning season and going to the tournament was something that they never had. I felt like I owed this to them. Because they put in so much work, sweat and tears. I wanted to do it for them.”
Oregon now sits in second place in the Pac-10 standings, second only to UCLA, the team it had defeated two nights before.
“I will say it now,” Erickson said. “We’d better be going to the (NCAA) tournament. We probably helped ourselves today by winning.”
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