The Oregon soccer team (7-7-1, 2-4-0 Pac-12) takes the field tonight at home for the first time since Sept. 23. The Ducks spent the last three weekends on the road with trips to UCLA and USC, Arizona and Arizona State, and Colorado and are glad to be at home.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=237&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205317717@@
“I’m sick of the road,” senior goalkeeper Lindsay Parlee said. “I want to be out here on our big old field with our fans.”
The Ducks welcome Washington (6-6-3, 2-3-1 Pac-12) to Pape Field tonight and play host to No. 21 Washington State (10-4-2, 4-1-1 Pac-12) on Sunday.@@http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/w-soccer/stats/2011-2012/teamcume.html@@
The last time the Ducks played at home, 1,207 fans were in attendance at Pape Field, the 8th-largest crowd in Oregon history and the third-biggest crowd Oregon has played in front of this year. This weekend, the Ducks are hoping an even bigger crowd turns out to see the Ducks play the rival Huskies.@@http://www.pac-12.org/portals/7/images/WSoccer/2011-Stats/HTML/0923ORE.HTM@@
“It’ll be great just to have more support than we’ve had the last few weekends,” freshman keeper Abby Steele said. “It should be a big crowd because it’s the breast cancer awareness game, so we’ll be wearing the pink (uniforms).”
The Ducks will once again be without the services of junior forward Julie Armstrong, who has missed the last two games because of a battle with tendonitis. Armstrong’s playing time this year has been severely limited by her injury.
“I just want to be on the field,” Armstrong said. “Being so competitive, even when I’m injured, I’ll still be like ‘I’m OK, I can go out there,’ but I can’t, so it’s rough.”
The Ducks have been plagued by injuries all year. Yet, because of head coach Tara Erickson’s competition based practices, Oregon has been less affected by injuries because its starting lineup changes so much on a week-to-week basis anyway.
“It shows that we have depth,” assistant coach Lauren Hanson said. “A lot of different people have the ability to start and with the amount of freshmen we have, different people have kind of stepped up throughout different weeks.”
As a team, Washington has scored 23 goals this year, seven more than the Ducks’ team total of 16.@@http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/w-soccer/stats/2011-2012/teamcume.html@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205314042@@
The Ducks will look to build on one of their best offensive performances of the season, a 3-1 win over Colorado in Boulder last Sunday. In goal for Washington will be senior Jorde LaFontaine-Kussmann. LaFontaine-Kussmann has put up impressive numbers this year, allowing less than a goal per game in her 12 starts.@@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=237&SPSID=4314@@ @@http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/lafontainekussmann_jorde00.html@@
If the Ducks can beat LaFontaine-Kussmann, they like their chances of besting Washington. So far in Pac-12 play, the Ducks have won every game when they have scored at least one goal.
On Sunday, the Cougars come to Pape Field. Washington State is led by forward Brandi Vega and midfielder Jocelyn Jeffers, who each have five goals and five assists on the year.@@http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-women/d1@@
Such a balanced attack poses a challenge for Steele, but it’s one the Santa Rosa, Calif., native feels like she is ready for.
“They’re well-organized,” Steele said. “It’s always hard to defend a well-organized team. But if our midfield and our defense and our forward all stay connected, we’ll be able to fight them off.”
On the other end of the field, Cougars goalkeeper Gurveen Clair will look for her sixth shutout of the year and her fifth of Pac-12 play. With such a strong presence in goal, Steele knows she has to be on her game, but she doesn’t feel any additional pressure.
As a team, Washington State has given up just two goals in conference play, tied for the best scoring defense in the Pac-12 with UCLA.@@http://stats.ncaa.org/team/index/10640?org_id=754@@