Down 2-1, on the verge of an upset at the hands of UC Santa Barbara (1-2-1), the Ducks found themselves with a penalty kick in the 83rd minute of the game.

Seemingly one of their last opportunities to tie the game, the crowd at Pape field in Eugene grew louder as Oregon’s Chai Cortez stepped up to take the PK. Cortez lasered a low arcing shot that hit multiple players in front of the goal.
As the ball careened off the players, forward Ally Cook found herself with the ball, alone in front of the net. Cook pounded home a goal from only a few feet out to knot the game up at two.

The fans erupted as the players celebrated on the field. The two goal deficit the Ducks once faced was now erased.

After a few overtimes, the game remained tied, resulting in a final score of 2-2 on Friday.

UCSB’s Lauren Helwig opened the scoring with a beautiful curling shot in the 23rd minute that nailed the bottom right corner and put the Gauchos up by one.

They then increased their lead right before halftime, in the 42nd minute when a very high cross found the head of a Gaucho.

From start to finish, the match was extremely chippy with a combined 35 fouls and five yellow cards given out. The Gauchos were especially scrappy, racking up 21 fouls.

This lack of discipline ended up costing them the win; the tying goal came from a PK, and the Ducks’ first goal came off one as well.

In the 59th minute, Santa Barbara goalie Evann Smith lunged out to knock away the ball, but fouled Cook in the process — the referee then called for a free kick.

Zoe Hasenauer was given the call for the PK, and she didn’t hesitate, sending a howitzer into the bottom left corner for her first goal of the year and cutting the Gaucho lead in half.
After 20 minutes of extra time, the game was still knotted at two.

The Ducks dominated in possession time throughout the game. But, in the second half especially, Oregon was in full attack mode. Throwing the kitchen sink at Santa Barbara, Oregon’s aggressiveness resulted in some mistakes by the Gauchos.

In the 83rd minute, Elise Ziem of the Gauchos received the team’s fourth yellow card of the game. This card led to the PK that tied the game.
Oregon’s ability to capitalize on these mistakes was the difference between losing on Friday night.

With the draw, the Ducks are now 2-0-2. They will try to remain undefeated next Thursday when they face Texas in Austin at 5 p.m PT.