University of Oregon
2-0
Detroit Mercy
0-2
Early Surge Lifts Ducks Past Detroit
02/21/16 | Women's Lacrosse
DETROIT, Mich. – The Oregon women's lacrosse team wrapped up its first road trip of the season with a win Sunday morning, besting Detroit 17-13 at Ultimate Soccer Arenas.
How It Happened: The Ducks (2-0) started hot, scoring the first seven goals of the game to gain the early advantage over the Titans (0-2).
Much like in Friday's season-opening win over Michigan, Bella Pyne drew first blood on a free position shot at the 27:20 mark. Strikes from freshman Shannon Williams (twice), junior Rachel Steinberg, and sophomores Mariah Gatti (twice) and Evan Murphy followed, and the Ducks found themselves up 7-0 after the first 20 minutes of play.
A score from Detroit's Kylie Birney broke the Oregon run and got the Titans on the board, but Gatti's third goal of the game stretched the Duck lead back to seven. Shortly after, Pyne netted her second goal of the game off an assist from sophomore Cambi Cukar, who assisted on four of the Ducks' nine first-half goals.
The Titans ended the half with three-straight goals to cut the Oregon edge to 9-4 at the break.
Detroit continued its run out coming out of the locker room in the second half, netting four more unanswered scores to trim the Ducks' lead to 9-8; however, a Kathryn Blumhardt goal off a free position shot at the 23:57 mark snapped the Titan streak and put Oregon ahead by two. Detroit answered with goal by Kaitlyn Wandelt to make it 10-9 with 23:21 left to play, but that was the closest Detroit got again as a goal by Carly O'Connell sparked a run of six unanswered from the Ducks.
Steinberg, Gatti, Pyne and senior Holly Johnson also added to the Oregon run with goals of their own, while Cukar passed off another pair of assists to tie her career high with six.
The Titans seemed to be poised to threaten again, scoring three straight to cut the Oregon lead to 16-12 before Bella Pyne converted her fourth goal of the game, tying her career high. After Detroit scored with 5:53 remaining on the clock, the Ducks held the Titans scoreless the rest of the game to earn the victory.
Who Stood Out: Cukar's six assists tie a career high for the sophomore. Pyne tied her career best in goal scoring with four, while Gatti upped her previous high of one with four as well. Steinberg added three scores, besting her previous career high of two. Williams added three points (2g, 1a) for a second consecutive game. JoJo Hesketh finished with a career-high four draw controls, while O'Connell and Blumhardt each earned three. Steinberg, Katie Marlatt and Ali Scharkey each collected three ground balls to lead the Ducks. Scharkey, O'Connell, Gatti and Marlatt also each caused a Titan turnover. Jenna Morris saved four Titan attempts in over 55 minutes in goal for the Ducks.
Notes and Numbers: Oregon outshot the Titans 39-22 in the win … After Michigan outplayed the Ducks on the draw on Friday, notching 17 draw controls to the Ducks' seven, the Ducks were plus-six in the category Sunday …
Up Next: The Ducks will head back out on the road next weekend when they face William & Mary on Sunday in Williamsburg, Va.
