University of Oregon
4-2
George Mason
1-1
Strong Second Half Lifts Oregon Past George Mason
03/10/16 | Women's Lacrosse
EUGENE – The Oregon women's lacrosse team used a second-half burst to knock off George Mason, 15-9, on Wednesday evening at Papé Field.
How It Happened: The Ducks (4-2) and Patriots traded goals for much of the first half. George Mason scored three of the first four goals of the game to take an early 3-1 lead just under 10 minutes into the contest. It was Natalie Modly that got the Ducks on the board with an unassisted goal at the 24:21 mark.
From that point, the Ducks added a score from Carly O'Connell off an assist from freshman Shannon Williams and a free position goal from Rachel Steinberg to knot the game at three. Mason would score again with a Brooke Lorber goal off the feed from Jacquelyn Spalding, but Nikita Bagg rifled in her first-career goal off a free-position shot to tie the game yet again with 10:34 remaining in the period.
After the Patriots found the back of the net again, this time on an unassisted goal from Alexa McGovern, the Ducks used tallies from Shannon Williams and Holly Johnson to take their first lead of the game with just over a minute-and-a-half to play.
George Mason's Melissa Lobaccaro was able to score off a free position shot with less than three seconds to go in the half to tie the game at six heading into the locker room.
Oregon took control of the game in the opening minutes of the second half, rattling off four-straight goals in the first 10-plus minutes of the frame to jump out to a 10-6 lead.
Williams sparked the Duck run with a free position goal that would put Oregon up for good. Less than three minutes later, O'Connell spun around her defender and attacked the goal from the right side to net her second goal of the night. Johnson also found back of the net for the second time of the evening before Mariah Gatti finished off an assist from Steinberg to cap the run.
After George Mason's Hannah Warpinski broke the Ducks' surge with 17:46 to play, Bella Pyne and Natalie Modly quelled any hopes of a Patriot run with unassisted goals of their own.
The Patriots were able to score two more times in the final 10 minutes, but Gatti, Steinberg and Lindsey Kail helped hold off the George Mason attack.
Who Stood Out: Jenna Morris was a rock for the Ducks in goal. The senior was instrumental to the big stretch in the second half, only allowing three Patriot goals and collecting five saves to allow the Ducks to pull away. Morris finished with a season-high eight saves in 56:18 minutes Jill Zubillaga was also helpful on the defensive side of the ball, tripling her career high in caused turnovers with three tonight. On offense, six Ducks (Modly, Johnson, O'Connell, Steinberg, Williams and Gatti) were able to score twice. Steinberg and Williams each finished with four points (2g, 2a). Cambi Cukar dished off a pair of assists, including a nice over-the-net lob to Gatti who was able to fire in the score.
Up Next: After playing three games in five nights to open this week, the Ducks will have a few days to rest before they return to Papé Field on Sunday at 11 a.m. to host Fresno State.
