When Oregon faces No. 10 Georgetown today at 12:30 p.m. in Washington, D.C., it will be the Ducks’ second chance this year to knock off a team ranked in the top five this preseason and they’ll have the opportunity against a Hoyas squad coming off a recent 14-10 loss to No. 6 James Madison.
Coach Jen Larsen said these tough matches, against Georgetown and No. 1 North Carolina last week, are scheduled quite consciously.
“I just want our team to recognize what No. 1 looks like and No. 3 (Georgetown’s previous rank) looks like, so they understand that they can play with those teams,” Larsen said. “Now we just have to figure out a way to have the confidence to go out and make it a game, really be tenacious against them, and one of these days we are gonna be upsetting a top-10 team, too.”
Along with Georgetown, where Larsen served as an assistant lacrosse and field hockey coach from 1996-98, Oregon will also battle the University of Maryland Baltimore County on Sunday at 9 a.m. The Ducks (3-1, 2-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) lost their No. 20 ranking after their weekend split against the Tar Heels and Davidson in North Carolina, but received 20 votes in the latest Inside Lacrosse poll.
Georgetown and Oregon have met once previously when the Hoyas, then ranked 11th, traveled to Eugene to play and won 16-6, ultimately finishing their season with a 14-4 overall record. The Hoyas return 10 seniors, including Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Coco Stanwick and Preseason Defensive Player of the Year goaltender Maggie Koch. Stanwick had five goals in the losing effort to James Madison last weekend.
“They are an experienced team and they have a lot of seniors and juniors who have been doing some great things all year long,” Larsen said. “We need a good team defense and offense that really combats their individual players that are tough.”
The UMBC Retrievers (2-2) return five all-conference players from last season, including first-team attack Ali Levendusky. The Ducks battled them in 2005 and were defeated in Baltimore 14-11. Most recently, the Retrievers lost to Baltimore-Loyola 10-9 in overtime on Wednesday.
Junior midfielder Jenny Browne will not make the trip after sustaining a medial collateral ligament strain on Sunday against Davidson, Larsen said. Browne, who is currently on crutches, will use next week to immobilize the injured knee and then begin strengthening it, Larsen said.
Brown played in all 19 games last year, scoring 13 goals. Additionally, Larsen lists attacker Erin Gaebe as day-to-day after she suffered a high hamstring strain.