In a season full of disappointment, the Oregon soccer team ended its 2000 campaign on a disappointing weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Ducks dropped two games on the weekend. The first loss was a 4-0 decision to No. 15 Stanford Friday, and the second was a 4-0 defeat at the hands of No. 8 California Sunday.
Oregon ended the season 4-15-1 overall, 1-7-1 in the Pacific-10 Conference, and eighth place in the league.
For the second game in a row, the Ducks were beaten by one player in Friday’s match against Stanford. After Washington’s Theresa Wagner notched four goals and an assist against Oregon last Sunday, the Ducks couldn’t stop Stanford’s Marcie Ward Friday.
Ward had two goals within 10 minutes of play in the first half Friday night. The first came on a breakaway seven minutes into the match, then Ward put away a Marcia Wallis pass two minutes later. The two forwards then switched spots as Ward fed Wallis for the Cardinal’s third goal. Brittany Oliveira scored Stanford’s last goal at the 66-minute mark.
Ward’s goals were her 11th and 12th of the season, but her one assist was her most important statistic of the game. That assist was the freshman’s 14th of the season, breaking Stanford’s single-season mark that was set by Julie Foudy. Foudy is one of the most prolific members of the United States national team.
The Ducks never recovered from Ward’s goals Friday night and were shut out for the ninth time in 20 games this season.
Oregon’s tenth shutout came Sunday, when the Ducks were able to muster only four shots against California. The Golden Bears struck early, when Lucie Brining put away a Regina Holan cross in the third minute to put California up 1-0. Krysti Whalen scored in the 26th minute to put the game out of reach. Then Kathleen Cain and Lee Ann Mouton scored towards the end of the match to make the final score 4-0.
Oregon couldn’t find the back of the net this weekend, and couldn’t even find the shots that would create the opportunities. The Ducks were out-shot 33-9 in the two games. Oregon was averaging 14.0 shots per game before the weekend, but shot just five times on Stanford and four times on California.
Sunday, 11 different California players had shots, while just two Oregon players — Julie McLellan and Molly Stemp — recorded scoring opportunities.
Friday against the Cardinal, the Ducks shot twice in the first half, compared with Stanford’s nine shots.
The Ducks were unable to upset ranked teams this weekend and didn’t play spoiler all season despite a schedule chock-full of top-ranked foes. Oregon played nine top-25 teams in 20 games, and lost all nine of those matches by a combined score of 41-2. On the season, the Ducks scored 21 goals while opponents scored 56.
The one positive the Ducks could take away from the weekend’s games — and the season — was the play of goalkeeper Sarah Peters. The goalie is the Pac-10’s leader in the saves department, the result of being shot upon all season. If anyone in the conference is battle-tested, it is Peters and her defense.