Ducks Close Regular Season at Home

EUGENE – The Oregon lacrosse team wraps up its regular season at home this weekend with a pair of MPSF matchups against Denver and Colorado. The Ducks (9-5, 4-3 MPSF) open the weekend with Denver on Friday at 3 p.m at Papé Field, before a bout with the Buffaloes on Sunday at 11 a.m. on Pac-12 Network. Sunday's game will also serve as the team's Senior Day.

Fans that attend Friday's game will receive buy-one-get-one-free admission. Seniors will receive $1 admission to Sunday's game.

SENIOR DAY

This Sunday's match against Colorado will mark the final game at Papé Field for six Ducks. Seniors Holly Johnson, Katie Marlatt, Jenna Morris, Jackie Moccia, Carly O'Connell and Ali Scharkey will each be honored prior to the game.

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 9-5 record and a 4-3 mark in MPSF play. Oregon will look to keep rolling this weekend after a 15-3 home win over UC Davis in its last appearance.

The Ducks' offensive attack is led by sophomore Cambi Cukar. Cukar has paced the Ducks in points this season with a team-high 49 points (8g, NCAA-leading 41a). The Ducks boast a balanced scoring attack with six players having tallied 20 goals or more this season. Freshman Shannon Williams is the Ducks' leader in scoring with 25 goals through 14 games, along with 13 assists.

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 24, while Moccia has picked up 18 along with 12 caused turnovers. Morris has seen the bulk of the time in goal for the Ducks, clocking 712:20 , allowing 9.69 goals per 60 minutes while recording 76 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.

THE SERIES

The Ducks and Pioneers will be competing for the 17th time in the two programs' histories. Denver leads the overall series,13-3 after the Ducks fell 11-5 to the Pioneers in the MPSF Tournament. Oregon will look to break a five-game losing streak to the Pioneers Friday. The Ducks' last win over Denver was in 2012.

Only the third meeting between the two, Oregon is looking for its first win over the Buffaloes on Sunday. Colorado took last year's game 8-6 in Boulder.

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 (3.00), while sitting in the top five in points (3rd, 192), points per game (2nd, 2.83), assists (2nd, 84), assists per game (2nd, 1.23), draw controls (2nd, 197) caused turnovers, (5th, 61) and caused turnovers per game (5th, 0.91) . With only one season under her belt, Cambi Cukar has already broken into the top three in career assists. With 41 assists this season, Cukar currently has 79 assists in her career, passing Kristina Barrett (2009-12) for third. The sophomore recorded the fourth-most assists in a single season in program history as a freshman in 2015 and sits only three assists away from matching Shannon Propst's single-season school record (44, 2014).

Senior Ali Scharkey broke into the program's top 10 in ground balls earlier this month, collecting the 99th of her career to pass O'Connell for ninth. With 52 career caused turnovers, the senior is only one away from emerging into the top 10 in that category as well.

Jenna Morris is now fourth in the program record book in saves with 131. With her win over UC Davis last weekend, Morris passed Janelle Parker for fourth in that category as well.

WILLIAMS NAMED MPSF ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

For the third time this season, freshman Shannon Williams was named MPSF Rookie of the Week, the conference announced following a stellar week in a home win over UC Davis. Williams added three goals and three assists for a career-high six points in Sunday's win over UC Davis. Recording all of her points after halftime, Williams was instrumental in an 11-1 second-half run that put the game in hand for the Ducks. Williams is the second-leading point scorer on the Duck squad this season with 25 goals and 13 assists.

CAMBI CUKAR - THE ART OF THE ASSIST

Cambi Cukar has had an impressive sophomore season, leading the Ducks in points with 49 (8g, 41a). Cukar ranks third in the nation in assists (41) and assists per game (2.93). The sophomore tied her career high in assists at Detroit with six, and has recorded three or more in nine of the Ducks ' 14 games.

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 6.50 per contest. Senior Carly O'Connell and freshman Shannon Williams have helped out in that regard as well. Williams and O'Connell rank seventh in the MPSF in assists (13) so far this season, while Carly O'Connell ranks tenth among active career leaders in assists (84).

DEFENSE REAPING REWARDS

The Oregon defense has been proactive in causing turnovers. This season, the Ducks average 10.43 cause turnovers per game, good for 12th in the country. Junior Bella Pyne has led the Ducks in the category this season, averaging 1.21 caused turns per contest through 14 games. Pyne ranks 11th in the MPSF in caused turnovers per game.

SCORE FAST, SCORE OFTEN

Averaging 12.43 goals per game, the Ducks rank 20th in the country and fourth in the MPSF in scoring offense. Shannon Williams is the Ducks' leader in goals with 25 through 14 games. The Ducks boast a balanced scoring attack with six players having tallied 20 goals or more this season. Carly O'Connell, Rachel Steinberg, Holly Johnson, Bella Pyne and Mariah Gatti are the other five Ducks to eclipse the 20-goal mark this season.

POINTS ON POINTS

The Ducks rank 16th in the nation and third in the MPSF in points per game, averaging 18.93 each contest so far this season. Sophomore Cambi Cukar (8g, 41a) and freshman Shannon Williams (25g, 13a) lead the Ducks in points. Cukar ranks fourth in the MPSF in points, while Williams ranks eighth.

GATTI'S FIVE GOALS PACE DUCKS TO VICTORY OVER AGGIES

Led by a career-high five goals from sophomore midfielder Mariah Gatti, the Oregon lacrosse team got back on track Sunday afternoon with a 15-3 drubbing of UC Davis at Papé Field.

The Ducks (9-5, 4-3 MPSF) came out hot, scoring four goals within the first 10 minutes to immediate grab control of the game.

Sophomore attacker Cambi Cukar got things started for Oregon, netting a goal off an assist from Carly O'Connell a minute-and-a-half into the game. Madeline Reece followed shortly after with an unassisted score to put the Ducks up 2-0.

Mariah Gatti capped the run, scoring her first goal of the day unassisted before converting on a free position 8-meter opportunity to inflate the Oregon lead to 4-0 with 20 minutes to go in the first.

The Aggies would have the final word of the half, however, getting a pair of goals from Ellie Delich and Taylor Cuenin midway through the period to cut the Duck advantage to 4-2. Both teams went scoreless for the remainder of the half, and the Ducks carried a 4-2 lead into the locker room.

Gatti got back to work out of the gate in the second half, rifling in the first score of the frame off an assist from freshman Shannon Williams. Gatti found the net again, this time unassisted, to stretch the Oregon edge to 6-2 with 26:19 remaining.

UC Davis's Courtney Neff scored shortly after to cut the lead to three, but that was as close as the Aggies would get again, as Williams connected to O'Connell on a pair of goals to push it back to 8-3.

O'Connell scored a third straight on a free position shot before Reece tallied her second of the day, unassisted. Williams added to the lead with two goals of her own, both assisted by O'Connell, to inflate the lead to 12-3.

Oregon got goals from Gatti, Williams and Natalie Modly in the final minutes of the game to finish off the Aggies. Jenna Morris earned her ninth win of the season with four saves and only three goals allowed.

Who Stood Out: The Ducks had a number of impressive performances on both sides of the ball on Sunday. Carly O'Connell did a little bit of everything for Oregon, adding three goals, four assists, three ground balls, two draw controls and a caused turnover. Gatti scored a career-high five goals while picking up two ground balls. Shannon Williams tallied three goals and three assists, while freshman Madeline Reece netted a career-high two goals.

On the defensive side, Jill Zubillaga picked up two ground balls, a draw control and caused two turnovers. Katie Marlatt and Jackie Moccia each caused two turnovers as well.

DUCKS STUMBLE AGAINST NO. 10 STANFORD

The Oregon lacrosse team fell, 14-2, to No. 10 Stanford on Friday afternoon at Papé Field.

The Ducks (8-5, 3-3 MPSF) fell in a hole early, as Kelsey Murray ripped a goal past senior goalie Jenna Morris just 11 seconds into the game to give the Cardinal a 1-0 lead. Soon after, Kelly Myers converted on an 8-meter free position attempt with 23:59 on the clock.

Down 2-0, Oregon's offense had opportunities early to stop the Stanford run, getting shots from Carly O'Connell and Bella Pyne; however, with the offense struggling, the Duck defense strapped down to hold the Cardinal scoreless for the next 10 minutes, led by a handful of timely saves from Morris.

Murray broke the drought for Stanford scoring her second of three for the half on an unassisted tally. Over the next 14 minutes, the Cardinal would tack on five more goals while stifling the Oregon offense.

The Ducks trailed, 8-0, at the half. Morris led the Duck defense with five of her seven saves in the period.

Stanford added a couple more goals in the opening minutes of the second period before Rachel Steinberg got the Ducks on the board on a free position attempt with 25:28 to play.

The Cardinal responded with a Kelsey Murray goal to stretch the deficit back to 11-1 at the 17:43 mark. O'Connell was quick to answer, however, scoring less than a minute later off an assist from Cambi Cukar.

The Ducks were unable to mount a comeback off O'Connell's strike, and Stanford scored the final three goals of the game to put Oregon away.

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.

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.