Ducks Return Home to Host No. 10 Stanford, UC Davis
04/06/16 | Women's Lacrosse
EUGENE – The Oregon lacrosse team kicks off its final homestand of the season this weekend with home games against No. 10 Stanford and UC Davis. The Ducks open the weekend with the Cardinal at Papé Field on Friday at 1 p.m. on Pac-12 Network, before returning to host the Aggies on Sunday at noon.
Friday's game against Stanford will serve as the team's Women In Flight Game. It will also be the Ducks' Pink Game. Fans that wear pink will recieve $1 admission, and donations will be accepted to benefit the Play 4Kay initiative. All fans ages 12 and under will receive free admission as well.
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 an 8-4 record and a 3-2 mark in MPSF play. Oregon will look to keep rolling this weekend after pair of conference wins in the Bay Area, posting a 15-5 victory over Cal and a 19-3 drubbing of Saint Mary's.
The Ducks' offensive attack is led by sophomore Cambi Cukar. Cukar has paced the Ducks in points this season with a team-high 46 points (7g, NCAA-leading 39a). Holly Johnson is the Ducks' leader in scoring with 24 goals through 12 games. Freshman Shannon Williams has also been a major contributor this season with 32 points (22g, 10a) 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 21, while Moccia has picked up 16 along with 10 caused turnovers. Morris has seen the bulk of the time in goal for the Ducks, clocking 616:54, allowing 9.63 goals per 60 minutes while recording 65 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 Cardinal will be competing for the 15th time in the two programs' histories this Friday. The Ducks currently trail, 11-3, in the series. Stanford has won the last three over Oregon, taking the last meeting, 15-10, in Palo Alto. Oregon's last win in the series came in 2012, when the Ducks prevailed, 13-10, in the MPSF title game to claim their first conference title.
The Ducks lead the series with the Aggies, 11-3. In the two teams' meeting last season, Oregon earned a 10-7 win, thanks in part to a hat trick from Devon Frazer. The Ducks will look to tally their sixth straight over the Aggies this Sunday.
DUCKS ROLL AT SAINT MARY'S
The Oregon lacrosse team picked up its second straight win Sunday afternoon in a 19-3 rout of Saint Mary's. With the win, the Ducks moved to 8-4 on the season and 2-2 in MPSF conference play.
The Ducks led wire to wire and tallied new season highs in goals (19), assists (11), points (30) and shots (48).
Sophomore Cambi Cukar got the Ducks on the board under four minutes into the game with a score off an assist from Rachel Steinberg. That goal spurred a quick 3-0 run over the next five minutes, preceding strikes from Shannon Williams and Mariah Gatti
The Gaels broke the run momentarily when Hanna Dalrymple netted a free position shot, but Gatti and Steinberg tacked on two more goals to inflate the Oregon lead to 5-1 with 15:25 to play in the half.
Saint Mary's Anna Marie Carmazzi scored once more for the Gaels to cut the Duck edge to 5-2, but Oregon was relentless, ending the half on a 6-0 run to lead 11-2 at the break.
Steinberg, who recorded a new career high of three assists in the first half, got things started for the Ducks in the second, finishing off a pass from Lindsey Kail to spark another run of seven unanswered goals for Oregon.
Freshman Julia Taylor capped the run with her first two career goals, and her fellow freshman Nikita Bagg finished off the win with a free position goal after Saint Mary's final score of the day.
Goalie Jenna Morris moved to 8-4 on the year with the win, playing 30 minutes and recording three saves to only two goals allowed.
DUCKS CONTROL CAL, 15-5, IN BERKELEY
The Oregon lacrosse team got back on track Friday, besting California, 15-5, at Kabam Field. With the win, Oregon moved to 7-4 and 2-2 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play.
The game was back and forth in the early going, with Oregon's Bella Pyne getting on the board first, scoring the 20th goal of her junior season. After nearly five scoreless minutes, the Bears would respond with an unassisted goal from Meredith Haggerty at the 22:24 mark of the first half.
Freshman Shannon Williams put the Ducks back up less than a minute later off a dish from NCAA assist leader Cambi Cukar. After Cal's Kate Mattimore tied the game up yet again with 16:51 to play in the half, Williams wasted no time putting in another quick strike that would give Oregon the lead for good.
Williams' goal jumpstarted an 8-0 run for the Ducks, allowing Oregon to take control. Freshman Madeline Reece joined in on the scoring on an 8-meter free position attempt to put the Ducks up 4-2. Sophomore Modly tallied a couple of consecutive goals, one coming off an assist from senior Carly O'Connell, to further extend the Oregon advantage.
Rachel Steinberg netted a goal at the 9:49 mark that would be the final score of the half for either team. The Ducks carried a 7-2 lead into the locker room. Draws were huge in the first half, as the Ducks collected nine draw controls to the Bears' one. Oregon recorded 16 shots on goal in the period, while limiting Cal to only three.
The Ducks tacked on three more goals in the first six-and-a-half minutes of the second half, led by Williams' third of the game off an assist from Cukar. Cukar tallied a goal of her own not long before Modly capped off the run with a score off a pass from Mariah Gatti.
After a 27-minute scoring drought, Cal appeared to show signs of life, running off three unanswered in just under five minutes to cut the Oregon lead to 10-5 with 14:37 to play. Senior Holly Johnson halted the run, however, putting in a free position goal that would be the first of five straight for the Ducks to end the game and put the Bears away.
Steinberg, O'Connell and Gatti each scored off assists from O'Connell, Pyne and Cukar, respectively, to increase the cushion to 14-5 with two minutes left. Freshman Nikita Bagg put the exclamation mark on the win on an unassisted goal, her second score of the season.
Jenna Morris played all 60 minutes in goal for Oregon, allowing only five goals, while collecting five saves to earn her seventh win of the 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.
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 (4th, 184), points per game (2nd, 2.83), assists (2nd, 80), assists per game (2nd, 1.23), draw controls (2nd, 195) and caused turnovers per game (5th, 0.91) . With only one season under her belt, Cambi Cukar has already broken into the top 10 in career assists. With 39 assists this season, Cukar currently has 75 assists in her career, tying Theresa Waldron (2005-08) for fourth. The sophomore recorded the fourth-most assists in a single season in program history as a freshman in 2015 and sits only five 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 96th of her career to pass 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 fourth in the program record book in saves with 120. With her win over Saint Mary's last weekend, Morris tied Janelle Parker for fourth in that category as well.
CAMBI CUKAR - THE ART OF THE ASSIST
Cambi Cukar has had a nice start to her sophomore season, leading the Ducks in points with 46 (7g, 39a). Cukar ranks first in the nation in assists (39) and assists per game (3.25). The sophomore tied her career high in assists at Detroit with six, and has recorded three or more in nine of the Ducks ' 12 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 ninth in the country and second in the MPSF in assists per game, passing off 6.83 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 (10) so far this season, while Carly O'Connell ranks tenth among active career leaders in assists (80).
DEFENSE REAPING REWARDS
The Oregon defense has been proactive in causing turnovers. This season, the Ducks average 10.33 cause turnovers per game, good for 13th in the country. Junior Bella Pyne has led the Ducks in the category this season, averaging 1.42 caused turns per contest through 12 games. Pyne ranks fifth in the MPSF in caused turnovers per game.
SCORE FAST, SCORE OFTEN
Averaging 13.08 goals per game, the Ducks rank 17th in the country and third in the MPSF in scoring offense. Holly Johnson is the Ducks' leader in goals with 24 through 12 games. The senior's 24 goals rank fourth in the MPSF. With 22 goals, Bella Pyne and Shannon Williams rank seventh. The Ducks have led a balanced scoring attack this season, being the only MPSF team to have four players rank in the top 10 in the conference in scoring.
POINTS ON POINTS
The Ducks rank 12th 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 (7g, 39a) and freshman Shannon Williams (22g, 10a) lead the Ducks in points. Cukar ranks second in the MPSF in points, while Williams ranks fifth. Cukar also ranks 14th in the nation in points.
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 12 games. With 22 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.
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 in February.
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.
