Sometimes it’s fun to play the “what if” game.
What if the Oregon women’s soccer team had lost its Sept. 29 match against Portland State? It was one of those close matches that either makes or breaks a team.
In this case, a reinvigorated Oregon squad emerged with a 1-0 victory from a Tiffany Smith goal with 3:07 left in the second overtime period.
Forward Nicole Garbin said she’s never thought about how the next couple of games would have turned out if the Ducks had lost. But she said that Portland weekend was when the magic started.
“We gutted it out through double overtime, came out with the victory against Portland State, and played really well against Portland,” Garbin said. “Right there we grew our confidence and we knew we weren’t going to face anyone better than Portland for the rest of the season.”
The momentum from that victory carried the Ducks through the toughest part of their schedule: They played defending national champions Portland on Oct. 1 and came through with a respectable 3-0 loss, then beat both No. 24 Arizona and Arizona State on the road.
Now Oregon (8-5-0 overall, 2-0-0 Pacific-10 Conference) returns to Papé Field this weekend to take on Washington (5-7-0, 0-1-0) and Washington State (6-4-2, 1-0-0). The Ducks are 2-0 in the Pac-10 for the first time in school history.
“Finally. In my final year, this is finally happening,” Garbin said. “We’re definitely confident going into this weekend. We just soaked it all up when we got those two wins in Arizona. We couldn’t stop smiling, everyone was happy.”
The Ducks’ solid defensive play has been instrumental to the team’s recent success.
“I’m really proud of how our defenders have played this season – how the whole team has played defense this season really,” Oregon coach Tara Erickson said before the Ducks played Arizona. “Our defense has kept us in games, and we’re defending much better than we have in the past.”
The defense has held opponents to a 0.91 goal-against-average this season, allowing just 12 goals so far.
But the Ducks’ defense has proved that it can also play offense.
Nine of Oregon’s 17 assists this year have come from defensive players. In 2005, the defenders combined for just seven assists in the 19-game season. Defensive midfielder Rianna Mansfield provided the assist that produced Smith’s game-winning goal against the Vikings, while sophomore defender Nicole Dobrzynski fed Garbin the pass was converted into the lone goal against Arizona State.
“We’ve definitely been a more offensively minded defense this year,” defender Dylann Tharp said. “Tara emphasizes that our best attack comes when our defense gets involved. It’s always been something we’ve tried to do, but it’s definitely worked better ever since Tara got here.”
Tharp said Erickson got the defense to focus on perfecting the minute details of their game.
“We improved our communication. And it’s also all about paying attention to the little things like the pace of the ball or the angles that you have to give to support,” Tharp said.
This rhythm is likely to carry over into next season because Oregon’s defensive line is young. Tharp, a junior, is the leader, and her squad for next year includes four sophomores and four freshmen.
“It’s weird being called a veteran,” Tharp said. “I guess the hard thing about having such a young defense and so many different players over the last couple of years was having to adjust to each different player’s playing style and getting used to what they’re going to do technically and tactically.
“But I also kind of like being the constant and being able to share with them what I think we’ve been trying to learn over the last few years.”
The Ducks’ ultimate goal is to reach the national tournament, but Erickson doesn’t want her team getting caught up in premature delusions of grandeur yet.
“I think it’s definitely a confidence booster to start our Pac-10 season 2-0. It makes you look towards the next game with anticipation,” Erickson said. “But hopefully the kids aren’t looking too far ahead and going ‘Oh my gosh, we’re going to be 9-0 in the Pac-10.’ I don’t think that’s a healthy way to go about it.”
Nonetheless, the Ducks are pumped up for this weekend.
“U-Dub and Wazzu should be scared. We’re going to come out ready to play,” Tharp said.
Oregon faces Washington at 7 p.m. tonight. The Ducks then host Washington State at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
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