University of Oregon
4-1
George Washington
1-4
Balanced Effort Leads Oregon Past George Washington
03/11/15 | Women's Lacrosse
EUGENE – On a rare Tuesday evening game, the Oregon women's lacrosse team used a balanced effort on both sides of the ball to hold off George Washington for the, 8-6, win at Papé Field.
How It Happened: Oregon (4-1) got off to a roaring start, thanks to Olivia Pyne who netted the first two goals of the game. Holly Johnson – UO's leading point scorer with 14 – gave the Ducks a 3-0 advantage before Carly O'Connell pushed it to 4-0 on a free-position shot 8:14 minutes into the game.
George Washington (1-4) however did not wilt under the Oregon pressure thanks to the play of Rachel Mia, who reeled off a natural hat-trick to in the last 12:21 of the first half to bring the Colonials within 4-3 heading into the locker room.
The second half proved to be just as physical as the first half, with 48 fouls called between the two teams to go along with five yellow cards between GW and UO.
Hayley Milner got the ball rolling for the Ducks as she laced a ball past GW's goalie 39 seconds into the second half. Courtney Valdez made it 7-3 in favor of UO after scoring back-to-back goals. Valdez first put Oregon on top 6-3 when she zig-zagged past the GW defense and fired in a sideways shot while falling over. Less than a minute later, the junior put UO ahead, 7-3, on a free-position shot.
The Colonials however kept clawing back and chipped away at the UO lead when Bailey Forcier netted back-to-back goals to cut the lead down to 7-5.
O'Connell gave Janelle Parker and the UO defense some cushion when she boomed a shot past the GW goalie. George Washington's Brooke Sands quickly replied with a goal of her own to put the Colonials within 8-6 with 15:07 left to play in the game.
The Oregon defense however came up huge for the Ducks and forced six turnovers in the second half, two of which came in the final five minutes of play.
GW's Julia Lawson zoomed a ball past Parker with 6.2 seconds left to play in regulation, but after further review by the officials, the goal was disallowed for an illegal stick and secured the Ducks' 8-6 victory.
Odds & Ends: The Oregon defense was rejuvenated against George Washington when its first-team All-MPSF defender Ali Scharkey returned to the UO lineup … Tuesday's match was the first meeting between the two schools, with Oregon winning 8-6 … The Ducks shot .500 as a team, putting 16 shots on goal with eight finding the back of the net … With her five draw controls today, O'Connell (150) is now seven shy of surpassing Jana Drummond (156, 2009-12) for second all-time in the draw controls category.
Quotable: “I was happy with the overall performance we had on both offense and defense. I was also pleased with how we kept our composure through the momentum shifts in the game and kept the two-goal lead at the end. It was a great effort overall from everyone.” – UO head coach Jen Beck
Up Next: The Ducks continue their three-game slate in five days at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 13, when Oregon squares off against Robert Morris at Papé Field.
