Ducks Prepare for William & Mary
02/26/16 | Women's Lacrosse
EUGENE – The Oregon women's lacrosse team continues its 2016 season this weekend when it heads east to take on William & Mary. The Ducks and Tribe clash at 9 a.m. PT on Sunday at Martin Family Stadium in Williamsburg, Va. Oregon is looking for the first 3-0 start in program history.
ABOUT THE DUCKS
In her 12th year at the helm of the Oregon lacrosse program, head coach Jen Beck's Ducks are off to a 2-0 start to the 2016 season after a weekend sweep of Michigan and Detroit on the road last weekend.
The Ducks' offensive attack is led by senior Carly O'Connell and sophomore Cambi Cukar, who led Oregon in points last season. O'Connell finished her junior campaign with 48 points (33g, 15a), while Cukar led the Ducks in assists on her way to tallying 45 points (9g, 36a) as a freshman.
Oregon's defense is anchored by seniors Ali Scharkey, Katie Marlatt and Jenna Morris. Scharkey finished last season with 32 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers. Morris recorded 12 appearances in goal for the Ducks in 2015, recording 48 saves and the second-lowest single-season goals against average in program history (8.84).
This offseason saw the arrival of seven freshmen to the Oregon lacrosse program, while Beck also announced the addition of former player Colleen Taggart to the staff as an assistant coach after the departure of seven-year assistant Jen Derby last fall.
TRACKING THE TRIBE
The Ducks and tribe are set to meet for the third time in the two programs' histories this Sunday. William & Mary took both of the teams' last two meetings, the last being a 12-8 game in Eugene when the Tribe was ranked No. 18.
William & Mary enters the weekend at 1-1 after opening the season with a 19-7 loss to the top-ranked Terrapins of Maryland in College Park, Md., and bouncing back with a 19-3 win over Gardner-Webb at home last week.
The Tribe's offense is led by sophomore Danielle Palmucci (1g, 4a) and freshman Eloise Gagnon (3g, 1a). Three different goalies have seen action for William & Mary this season, with Meredith Crizer catching the bulk of the minutes: 68:45 under her belt and 18 goals allowed (15.71 GaAvg). Midfielders Shannon Quinn and Holly Hager have been rocks for the Tribe's defense two games into the season, Quinn with four ground balls and four draw controls, Hager with four ground balls, and both with four caused turnovers.
Head coach Hillary Fratzke is in her third season at the helm of the Tribe lacrosse progam, and is assisted by third-year assistan coach Mary Teeters and first-year assistant coach Kara Mupo.
DUCKS BEST MICHIGAN IN ANN ARBOR
Senior Holly Johnson tied her career high in goals as the Oregon women's lacrosse team opened the 2016 season with a 12-11 win over Michigan on Friday night at Oosterbaan Field House.
Bella Pyne struck first, scoring her first goal of the season in the first minute-and-a-half to put the Ducks up, 1-0, early; however, Michigan quickly took the lead with three-straight scores over the next four-plus minutes before Carly O'Connell netted a shot to end the Wolverine run.
Trailing 5-2 after Michigan converted two free position shots, senior Holly Johnson got to work by scoring her first of four goals for the day. Michigan's Tess Korten would respond 20 seconds later with a score to extend the Wolverines' lead back to three. Pyne rifled in her second goal of the game at the 10:28 mark, before freshman Shannon Williams scored the first goal of her Oregon career to pull the Ducks back to within one.
Oregon finished the first half with four-straight goals, including a last-second score from senior Carly O'Connell off an assist from Williams, to take a 9-7 lead into the half.
The Ducks tightened up on defense in the second half, allowing only four goals in the final 30 minutes to finish off their first victory of the season. Freshman Cambi Cukar opened the second half with a goal from Pyne to inflate the Oregon lead to three, the Ducks' biggest of the game. Michigan's Jess Angerman scored the Wolverines' response 30 seconds later, but Cukar found the net again on a man-up opportunity with 19:52 to play in the game.
After Michigan cut the Duck lead back to two with 16:06 remaining, the two teams suffered a scoreless stretch lasting almost nine minutes before Johnson scored her fourth goal of the game to make it 12-9, Ducks, with seven-and-a-half minutes to play. Michigan scored two goals in the final five minutes of the game to narrow the Duck lead to one point, but failed to find the equalizer as Oregon held on to move to 1-0.
EARLY SURGE LIFTS DUCKS PAST DETROIT
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.
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.
WATCHING THE RECORD BOOK
Senior Carly O'Connell is climbing up the Oregon record book in a multitude of categories. O' Connell tops the program list in draw controls per game (3.22), while sitting in the top five in points per game (2nd, 2.96), assists (4th, 72), assists per game (2nd, 1.31), draw controls (2nd, 177) and caused turnovers per game (3rd, 1.00) . With only one season under her belt, Cambi Cukar has already broken into the top 10 in career assists. With seven assists last weekend, Cukar currently has 43 assists in her career, passing Jana Drummond (2009-12) and Nikki Puszcz (2011-14). The sophomore recorded the fourth-most assists in a single season in program history as a freshman in 2015.
CAMBI CUKAR - THE ART OF THE ASSIST
Cambi Cukar had a nice start to her sophomore season last weekend, scoring two goals and passing off seven assists (including a career high-tying six assists in the win over Detroit). Cukar's seven assists lead the MPSF and are currently eighth in the country. The Pleasanton, Calif., native is averaging 3.5 assists per game, good for second in the MPSF and seventh in the NCAA.
SPREADING THE LOVE
Cukar isn't the only Duck that likes to share the lacrosse ball. In fact, as a team, the Ducks rank 10th in the country and second in the MPSF in assists per game, dishing off 7.5 per contest. Freshman Shannon Williams has helped out in that regard since joining the team this offseason. Williams ranks seventh in the MPSF in assists (3) and fifth in assists per game (1.5) so far this season.
FEARLESS FRESHMAN
Freshman attacker Shannon Williams has been a critical cog in the Duck offensive attack so far this season, tallying six points (3g, 3a) in the first weekend. Williams scored a goal and two assists for three points in the Ducks' season opener over Michigan and another three points with two goals and an assist at Detroit.
SCORE FAST, SCORE OFTEN
Averaging 14.5 goals per game, the Ducks are 16th in the country in scoring offense. With six goals this season, Bella Pyne is sixth in the MPSF in scoring, while senior Holly Johnson is in 10th with five.
POINTS ON POINTS
The Ducks rank 11th in the nation and second in the MPSF in points per game, averaging 22 each contest through two games this season. Sophomore Cambi Cukar (2g, 7a) and Bella Pyne (6g, 1a) lead the Ducks in points after the first weekend of action. Cukar ranks third in the MPSF in points, while Pyne ranks 10th.
GOOD START
Oregon is 2-0 for the fith time in program history. The Ducks are one of 25 teams to start the 2016 season undefeated, and of the 20 undefeated teams to play two or more games to this point, Oregon and Colorado are the only two teams in the country to open with a perfect record while playing each of their first games on the road. A win on Sunday to push the Ducks to 3-0 would give Oregon its best start ever.
LACROSSE TO BECOME PAC-12 SPORT IN 2018
The Pac-12 Conference will add women's lacrosse for the 2017-18 season as the conference's 12th sponsored women's sport and 23rd overall. Arizona State annoounced it would add women's lacrosse in 2018, giving the Pac-12 six teams, the minimum number to qualify for a conference championship and NCAA tournament automatic-qualifying bid.
BECK ADDS TAGGART TO STAFF
Oregon lacrosse head coach Jen Beck announced the addition of Colleen Taggart to the team's coaching staff as an assistant coach in October.
Taggart was a member of the Oregon lacrosse team from 2009-2012 and lettered all four years with 63 starts in 64 appearances as a defender for the Ducks. She also served as an undergraduate assistant coach during the Ducks' 2013 campaign. The Bay Shore, N.Y., native was a rock for the Oregon defense, earning first-team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation selections her sophomore and senior seasons. Taggart was also named to the MPSF All-Tournament Team in 2012 after helping lead the Ducks to their first MPSF Tournament title. A leader on and off the field, she was voted team captain three times by her teammates.
Three seasons removed from her final season at Oregon, Taggart still sits at 10th in the program record books for ground balls per game, having averaged 1.3 ground balls a game throughout the course of her career. Taggart graduated from Oregon in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and sociology.
DUCKS PICKED SIXTH IN MPSF
The Oregon women's lacrosse team was picked to finish sixth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation preseason coaches' poll, the league announced earlier this month.
Defending MPSF champion Stanford was selected to finish first, garnering 79 points and seven first-place votes in the poll. Runner-up USC was picked second with 75 points and three first-place votes, while Denver came in third with 63 points.Colorado (57) and San Diego State (46), who tied for fourth in the conference last season, came in fourth and fifth in the poll, respectively. Oregon was slotted just one point behind the fifth-place Aztecs with 45 points. California (31), UC Davis (26), Fresno State (19), and St. Mary's (9) rounded out the 2016 coaches' poll.
BECK SIGNS EIGHT TO NLI'S
Oregon women's lacrosse head coach Jen Beck announced the signing of eight players to National Letters of Intent last November. Julia Bolte, Emma Bowman, Madeleine Clark, Katie Donhauser, Gracyn Elliott, Caroline Jaworski, Jennifer Lanuza and Lindsey White will join the Ducks for the 2017 season.
