If Oregon beats No. 17 Denver on Saturday, the Ducks will win their first ever regular season conference title.
That could be a tough task.
The Ducks (11-5, 4-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) are already a conference win ahead of Denver (13-2, 3-0 MPSF) and can wrap up an undefeated MPSF regular season with a victory against the Pioneers in Denver, Colo. Saturday.
But Denver, which still has to play conference opponent California to conclude its three-match home stand and regular season, possesses a 3-0 all-time record against the Ducks. The Pioneers appear just as good as when they finished 15-5 in 2006, which means the Ducks have their work cut out for them.
The Pioneers have averaged 15.87 goals per-game this season, making them the nation’s second-best scoring team. Denver’s 238 goals are more than any other squad has netted aside from two-time defending national champion Northwestern. The Pioneers haven’t lost to a conference opponent since Stanford defeated them in last year’s MPSF Tournament Final, and their only two losses this season came against No. 3 Duke and John Hopkins, which is currently ranked fourteenth, according to the latest Inside Lacrosse DI Women’s Media Poll.
Suffice to say, Denver senior Kristie Leggio has made her share of contributions. Leggio, the 2006 MPSF Player of the Year, is the fourth-highest scorer in the nation as of April 15 and is averaging 5.53 points per game. Leggio has made 50 goals and 33 assists for 83 points through 15 matches this year. Another vicious scorer, Ali Flury, has taken little time making her presence known. The freshman has recorded 47 goals and 11 assists this season.
Three proven Oregon scorers are fast approaching 30-goal seasons and at least two could likely reach that mark against Denver. Senior Brooke Dieringer leads the team with 29 goals, while redshirt sophomore Ilsa van den Berg has 28 and junior Kate Fleming has 26.
Despite a winless record against the Pioneers, Oregon has come close. The Ducks lost 14-13 during the regular season and 14-6 in the MPSF Tournament Semifinals last year.
The game against Denver, which will help determine the seeding for the MPSF Tournament scheduled for May 4-6 in Davis, Calif., will be played at 1 p.m. and can be heard on KWVA-FM 88.1. The match will also be Webcast free on the Pioneers’ Web site.
Notebook
Junior attacker Jana Bradley was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week after scoring two hat tricks last weekend… Dieringer will be in next year’s NCAA record book for the fastest hat trick ever when she scored three goals within a span of 1:02 in Oregon’s 11-8 loss against Georgetown earlier this season. Dieringer is six goals shy of reaching 100 career goals… With its victory over Colgate, Oregon’s program record leveled out at .500 (23-23) for the first time since its inception in 2005. The Ducks currently hold a 27-25 all-time record.