Before Sunday’s matchup with James Madison, the Oregon women’s soccer team had scored twice in seven games, as if there were an invisible wall in its opponents’ nets preventing them from having the scoring flurries they showed earlier in the season.
Chalise Baysa changed all that, scoring at the 16:48 of the first half in Sunday’s game. Crystal David and Alyssa White followed her lead, as Oregon came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Dukes 3-2. White had the game-winning goal, a rebound shot with 2:09 left on the clock.
“That’s the best 90 minutes of soccer we’ve played this season,” Oregon head coach Bill Steffen said.
The win was the Ducks’ third of the year, and snapped the team’s longest-ever losing streak at seven.
Junior midfielder Annie Murphybroke Oregon’s five-game scoreless streak with a goal in the first half against Xavier on Friday, before the Musketeers rattled off three straight goals to defeat the Ducks.
On Sunday, it was the Ducks’ turn to come from behind.
After James Madison’s Colleen McIlwrath scored two goals early in the game, Baysa put in a penalty kick to move ahead of David as the Ducks’ leading scorer this season. Not to be outdone, David scored with just over 20 minutes left in the game to pull Oregon even. With time running down, White completed the comeback with her first goal of the season.
Steffen said his team played hard and earned themselves a victory against James Madison.
“We deserved to win that game,” Steffen said. “It’s nice for the team to get rewarded for their efforts.”
The weekend’s games were held in Knoxville, Tenn., where the Ducks were competing in the First Tennessee Bank Classic. The tournament was hosted by Tennessee, who went 1-1 on the weekend.
Two Ducks made the Classic’s all-tournament team. Junior Starr Johnson was the only Oregon defender to make the team. White also made the team after her game-winner.
Johnson’s election to the all-tournament team illustrates that the play of Oregon’s defense had a direct impact on the all-important victory. The defense gave up only 11 shots on goal in over 80 minutes of play after James Madison’s first two goals.
The defense was helped by sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Peters, who was making the saves on those shots. Peters had been sharing time in goal with classmate Jeanine Norstad before Norstad hyperextended her left elbow before a game against Montana last week. Peters has emerged as the Ducks’ starter in goal, and improved her goals-against-average to 3.44 after Sunday’s game.
The most important statistic from Sunday’s match for Oregon was the shot total. The Ducks took only 15 shots, but converted three of them. Steffen has said his team needs to finish its chances in order to win.
“We created plenty of chances but we didn’t put any of them away,” Steffen said after Friday’s game against Xavier, when his team failed on 12 attempts. “We need to focus on finishing things.”
Oregon’s next game is against No. 18 Florida State next Sunday at Papé Field. It will be only the second home game for the Ducks since they opened the season with two home matches in August.