Ducks Round Out Road Trip with Bears, Gaels
03/30/16 | Women's Lacrosse
EUGENE – The Oregon lacrosse team travels to the Bay Area this weekend for a pair of MPSF matches at California and Saint Mary's. The Ducks open the weekend Friday in Berkeley, Calif., for a showdown with the Golden Bears at 5 p.m., before making the trip to Moraga, Calif., to face the Gaels Sunday at noon. The games will wrap up the final road trip of the regular season for the Ducks.
ABOUT THE DUCKS
In her 12th year at the helm of the Oregon lacrosse program, head coach Jen Beck's Ducks enter this weekend's slate with a 6-4 record and a 1-2 mark in MPSF play. Oregon is coming off losses last weekend at San Diego State and No. 8 USC.
The Ducks' offensive attack is led by sophomore Cambi Cukar. Cukar has paced the Ducks in points this season with a team-high 37 points (5g, NCAA-leading 32a). Holly Johnson is the Ducks' leader in scoring with 20 goals through 10 games. Freshman Shannon Williams has also been a major contributor this season with 26 points (17g, 9a) in her first season as a Duck.
Oregon's defense is anchored by seniors Ali Scharkey, Katie Marlatt, Jackie Moccia and Jenna Morris. Scharkey leads the Ducks in ground balls this season with 19, while Moccia has picked up 14 along with 10 caused turnovers. Morris has seen the bulk of the time in goal for the Ducks, clocking 526:54 while recording 57 saves.
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.
BREAKING DOWN THE BEARS
The Ducks and Golden Bears will be competing for the 17th time in the two programs' histories this Friday. Oregon has gotten the best of Cal, holding a 9-7 edge in the series. The Ducks have won two straight, including an 18-8 drubbing of the Bears in Eugene last season.
Cal (3-6, 1-1 MPSF) has lost two straight coming into this weekend's tilt, falling 12-4 at Cornell and 18-3 at Temple on an east-coast road trip last week. Elizabeth Pellechi is the Bears' leading goal scorer with 15 on the season, while Meredith Haggerty has racked up 14 points (12g, 2a), nine ground balls and 19 draw controls.
Goalie Jenny Wilkens leads the Cal defense, clocking 514:11 in goal this season, recording an MPSF-high 87 saves and allowing 122 goals. Wilkens also leads the MPSF in ground balls per game, averaging 2.78.
Head coach Brooke Eubanks enters her second season at the helm of the Cal lacrosse program. Eubanks is assisted by assistant coaches Kacie Lewis and Megan Takacs.
GAELS AT A GLANCE
Sunday will mark the 15th meeting betweenSaint Mary's and Oregon, with the Ducks owning a perfect 15-0 advantage in the series. Oregon beat the Gaels 21-3 last season in Eugene.
Saint Mary's (0-9, 0-3 MPSF) is still looking for its first win of the season after a pair of losses at Kennesaw State and Mercer during a Georgia roadtrip last week.Hanna Dalrymple leads the Gaels' offensive attack with 13 points through nine games this season (9g, 4a). Dalrymple also leads the team in draw controls with 20.
Sydney Pinello will likely get the start, after starting the previous nine games for the Gaels. Pinello has recorded 74 saves and allowed 178 goals in 539:59 this season.
Saint Mary's is led by second-year head coach Jessica Mucci and first-year assistant coach Alicia Florin.
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 (3.12), while sitting in the top five in points per game (2nd, 2.91), assists (3rd, 77), assists per game (2nd, 1.29), draw controls (2nd, 188) 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 32 assists this season, Cukar currently has 68 assists in her career, passing Alex Breiner (61, 2008-11) for fifth. The sophomore recorded the fourth-most assists in a single season in program history as a freshman in 2015 and sits only 12 assists away from breaking Shannon Propst's single-season school record (44, 2014).
Senior Ali Scharkey broke into the program's top 10 in ground balls last week, collecting the 94th of her career to tie Anna Poponyak (2005-09) for ninth. With 51 career caused turnovers, the senior is only two away from breaking into the top 10 in that category as well.
Jenna Morris is now fifth in the program record book in saves with 112. With her win over Fresno State earlier this month, the senior took sole possession of the No. 5 spot on the program list.
CAMBI CUKAR - THE ART OF THE ASSIST
Cambi Cukar has had a nice start to her sophomore season, leading the Ducks in points with 37 (5g, 32a). Cukar ranks first in the nation in assists (32) and assists per game (3.20). The sophomore tied her career high in assists at Detroit, dishing off six.
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, passing off 6.40 per contest. Freshman Shannon Williams has helped out in that regard since joining the team this offseason. Williams ranks ninth in the MPSF in assists (9) and 11th in assists per game (0.90) so far this season, while Carly O'Connell ranks tenth among active career leaders in assists (77).
DEFENSE REAPING REWARDS
The Oregon defense has been proactive in causing turnovers. This season, the Ducks average 10.20 cause turnovers per game, good for 17th in the country. Junior Bella Pyne has led the Ducks in the category this season, averaging 1.50 caused turns per contest through 10 games. Pyne ranks fifth in the MPSF in caused turnovers per game.
SCORE FAST, SCORE OFTEN
Averaging 12.30 goals per game, the Ducks rank 24th in the country and third in the MPSF in scoring offense. Holly Johnson is the Ducks' leader in goals with 20 through 10 games. The senior's 20 goals rank fourth in the MPSF. With 19 goals, Bella Pyne ranks seventh in the conference, while Shannon Williams ranks 10th with 17. The Ducks have led a balanced scoring attack this season, being one of only two teams (Oregon, USC) to have three players in the top 10 in the MPSF in scoring.
POINTS ON POINTS
The Ducks rank 17 in the nation and third in the MPSF in points per game, averaging 18.70 each contest through 10 games this season. Sophomore Cambi Cukar (5g, 32a) and freshman Shannon Williams (17g, 9a) lead the Ducks in points. Cukar ranks third in the MPSF in points, while Williams ranks seventh. Cukar also ranks 26th in the nation in points per game.
PYNE'S SCORING STREAK
Junior Bella Pyne has been a consistent source of offense for Oregon this season, being the only Duck that has scored in all 10 games. With 18 goals this season, the Edgewater, Md., native has already bested both of her scoring marks from her freshman and sophomore campaigns. As another interesting note, Pyne's sister Olivia put together an impressive 15-game scoring streak on her way to scoring a team-high 34 goals last season.
WILLIAMS NAMED MPSF ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
For the second straight week, freshman Shannon Williams was named MPSF Rookie of the Week, the conference announced following a stellar week in home wins over George Mason (Mar. 9) and Fresno State (Mar. 13). Williams accumulated eight points on five goals and three assists, four ground balls, and four caused turnovers through those two games and another home outing vs. High Point (Mar. 7). Williams has been a consistent presence on the Duck offense, adding 13 goals and eight assists and averaging three points per game. The freshman has recorded three or more points in six of the Ducks' seven games this season.
DUCK OFFENSE STYMIED IN LOSS TO NO. 8 USC
The Oregon lacrosse team fell, 17-4, at No. 8 USC Sunday afternoon at McAlister field.
The Ducks (6-4, 1-2 MPSF) were matched up against the stingiest defense in the country, as the Trojans had only allowed 4.63 goals per game heading into Sunday's contest. Oregon battled and controlled the ball offensively for much of the game, but couldn't break through.
Oregon jumped out to an early 2-1 lead behind a pair of goals from Shannon Williams. The Ducks were patient offensively, and it paid dividends early, as Williams got on the board two minutes into the game off an assist from sophomore Cambi Cukar. After a counter from USC's Caroline deLyra, Williams scored an unassisted goal to retake the lead with 22:46 to play in the first half.
After the Ducks held the Trojans' second-ranked scoring offense to one goal over the first 14 minutes of play, USC opened up a 6-0 run lasting just under 15 minutes to seize control of the game for good with a 7-2 lead. Michaela Michael led the run for the Trojans, scoring three of her seven goals during the stretch.
Carly O'Connell fired a pass inside to Rachel Steinberg who scored to break the Trojan run with a minute-and-a-half until halftime, but USC had the final word of the half after deLyra netted her third of the game to push the deficit to 8-3 at halftime.
USC scored three unanswered to open the second half to push the lead to 11-3 before Bella Pyne converted off an assist from Cukar to make it 11-4 with 22:53 to play.
The Trojans put away hopes of an Oregon run, however, scoring six unanswered to end the game and seal the win.
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.
LOOKING FORWARD
The Ducks will return home from this four-game homestand next weekend for games against Stanford and UC Davis. Oregon will host the Cardinal at Papé Field on April 8 at 1 p.m. before returning for a noon opening draw on April 10.
