Oregon head coach Bill Steffen had a reminder for his women’s soccer team on Saturday.
He told the team that they would win more games than any other team in program history.
Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Cal put the Ducks one step closer to that goal. It was the Ducks’ eighth win of the season, which ties the best win total in program history. The Ducks finished 8-8-2 in 2001.
Oregon (8-8 overall, 2-3 Pac-10) did what has worked all season by making the first strike against the Golden Bears count. The Ducks are 4-0 this season when they have scored first.
With just 10 minutes expired, Oregon was awarded an indirect kick. Forward Nicole Garbin lined the shot to the left side of the goal where forward Mele French was waiting. French out-jumped her defender and connected on the header from five yards out to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead.
“Every single game, I go into the game thinking I want to score early so we can kind of relax and control the game,” French said.
French felt that it wasn’t offense that won the game.
“Most of it was our defense,” she said. “(Domenique Lainez) played terrific, and if she didn’t make those saves that she did, then it would have been so much harder for us to score.”
Oregon’s defense never allowed Cal to gain an edge. Lainez, Oregon’s starting goalkeeper, was credited with five of her seven saves in the first half amid eight Cal shots.
In one play, with 11 minutes to go in the half, Cal’s Katie Ratican made a 35-yard run down the field on a break away. When Ratican took her shot, Lainez misjudged it but managed to block the ball with her feet. It was the second shutout of Lainez’s Oregon career.
“It was great for Dom to have a big game,” Steffen said.
The Ducks entered the second half leading 1-0 but never settled. Oregon took three of its 11 shots in the half within the first eight minutes. Cal goalkeeper Anna Key never had a chance to relax. She earned three saves that day.
Oregon converted its second goal at the 82 minute, 25 second- mark. Garbin earned her second assist of the game when she delivered a 30-yard pass to redshirt freshman Andrea Valadez. Valadez dribbled the ball 14-yards, going left to right, and clinched the game-winning goal.
Garbin took seven shots in the contest, tying her second-highest output of the season. The redshirt sophomore recorded eight shots against Pacific on Sept. 12.
Among her on-field actions, Garbin was given a yellow card in the second half for punching the ball out of the goalie’s hands.
Her frustration continued to swell throughout the game after having her hair pulled, getting knocked to the ground and having her jersey stretched out. It was her second yellow card of the season.
“We’re never nice on the field,” Garbin said. “Everybody says that ‘oh yeah, we’re one of the nicest teams in the Pac-10.’ No, that’s not true. I say we’re the toughest. We don’t take any crap out there. It doesn’t matter if it’s Cal Berkeley, a really prestigious school. Whatever, that doesn’t mean anything to us.”
Both schools competed as if it was a rivalry game. In the 90-minute contest, Oregon accumulated 17 fouls compared to Cal’s 15. In other statistics, the Ducks outshot the Golden Bears 16 to 14, and both teams recorded four corner kicks.
It was the first time in program history that Oregon defeated the Golden Bears. Cal (7-6-3 overall, 2-4 Pac-10), which isn’t ranked in any major soccer poll for the first time since 1999, earned its second conference victory on Friday against Oregon State.
“Cal is a great tournament team, and this is great for our kids,” Steffen said. “It was a very hard game, but at the same time, I think both teams respected each other.”
Oregon split its weekend of conference play with the California schools. Stanford came to Papé Field on Friday night and defeated the Ducks 3-1 in the contest.
“Bad first half, better second half,” Steffen said. “We just kind of watched people play the first half. You have to work hard, play hard and play well and we sort of watched Stanford play the first half.”
The No. 17-ranked Cardinal scored two goals in the first 18 minutes from seniors Allyson Marquand and Natalie Spilger. Stanford’s 18 shots in the contest more than doubled the seven shots recorded by the Ducks.
After another Cardinal goal at 58:46 by senior Brittany Oliveira, the Ducks managed to prevent the shutout in the 75th minute. Midfielder Erin Engelhardt converted on a 15-yard run to score her first career goal.
“I was just trying to help things flow and do my part,” Engelhardt said on Friday. “I love to play. Tonight felt good playing. (It was) just flying, that’s all; catching the energy and running with it.”
Lainez recorded five saves that night, compared to Stanford’s Nicole Barnhart, who had two saves. The game was not as rough as Sunday’s contest, but Stanford did have eight fouls, with Oregon recording seven.
Oregon heads out on the road this weekend to face Arizona State on Friday and Arizona on Sunday. It will be the Ducks’ final regular-season road weekend.