University of Oregon
3-1
LIU Brooklyn
1-3
Ducks Beat Blackbirds in Home Opener
03/06/16 | Women's Lacrosse
EUGENE – The Oregon women's lacrosse team got back on track on Saturday, handling LIU Brooklyn, 16-6, in the 2016 home opener.
How It Happened: The Ducks (3-1) jumped ahead of the Blackbirds early, using goals from Bella Pyne and Carly O'Connell in the first two-plus minutes to gain an early 2-0 advantage.
LIU's Kathryn Harvey broke the mini Oregon run at the 26:52 mark of the first half, but Oregon would respond with another two-straight scores. A yellow card from LIU's Tori Shinkowitz allowed Cambi Cukar a free position attempt and a man-up opportunity on which the sophomore converted. Pyne would make it 4-1 after scoring off an assist from freshman Shannon Williams with 19:07 to go in the first.
The Blackbirds scored two straight over the next eight minutes to cut the Oregon lead to one, but the Ducks scored three of the last four to end the half. Williams netted the first before Pyne added her third goal of the game. Rachel Steinberg capped the Oregon run off a feed from Natalie Modly to put Oregon up 7-3 with 4:19 to play in the period.
The Ducks led 7-4 heading into the locker room, as LIU's Mary McQueen scored a free position goal with 3:45 to play in the frame that served as the final goal of the half.
Oregon opened the second half on a 7-0 run over the first 15 minutes. Holly Johnson sparked the Duck run, netting a score off a pass from Carly O'Connell. Steinberg erupted for three of the next four goals, thanks in part to assists from Cukar and Pyne. Mariah Gatti added a pair of goals during the stretch, and Evan Murphy scored the second goal of her season to put Oregon up 14-4 with 15:21 to play.
LIU added a couple more goals from Jillian May and Kathryn Harvey, but it wouldn't be enough as the Ducks held the Blackbirds scoreless over the final 8:46, while Williams and Lindsey Kail scored the daggers to seal up the 16-6 victory.
Who Stood Out: Rachel Steinberg scored a career-high five goals, and was a key cog in Oregon's 7-0 run to start the half. Bella Pyne recorded her second hat trick of the season, along with an assist. Cambi Cukar (1g, 3a) added four points, while Carly O'Connell (1g, 2a) and Shannon Williams (2g, 1a) each had three. Six Ducks forced two turnovers each to help lead the Duck defense, which forced a season-high 19 turns. Jenna Morris picked up her third win of the season, grabbing three saves and allowing only five goals in 46:19 to move to 3-1 on her season.
Notable: Shannon Williams has added three points or more in all four of her games this season … Becca Katzen made her second appearance this season in goal Saturday, allowing only one goal while saving three Blackbird shots in the final 13:41.
Quotable – Head Coach Jen Beck:
On opening up the five-game homestand…
“It's so nice to be home. It's just special for the players to play in front of their families and we had a lot of families here. It was great not only to be home in front of our Duck fans, but the families came too. It's a special time right now.”
On the second-half run…
“It was a little bit of a gut check at halftime. We knew that they could perform better, and they agreed with that. They just decided to put that into motion. It was nice to connect on that at the half, and then see some action behind it.”
Up Next: The Ducks will return to Papé Field on Monday night to host High Point at 5 p.m. Kids 12 and under will receive free admission to the game.
