Williams’ Career Night Leads Ducks to Rout of Vermont

Friday, March 17

Denver, Colo.

6:00 PM

University of Oregon

6-2

Vermont

0-9

Oregon

Vermont

Photo by: Stan Barnhill

Williams’ Career Night Leads Ducks to Rout of Vermont

03/17/17 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score Box: Oregon 17, Vermont 7

SHANNON WILLIAMS SCORES CAREER-HIGH SIX GOALS TO LEAD OREGON TO 17-7 ROUT OF VERMONT IN NEUTRAL SITE GAME IN DENVER

By: Nate Krueger

DENVER, Colo. – Sophomore Shannon Williams enjoyed a career night with six goals for the Oregon women's lacrosse team on Friday night, leading the Ducks to a 17-7 rout of Vermont in a neutral site game at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.

How it Happened: Williams was on from the outset, giving the Ducks (6-2) a 1-0 lead less than a minute into the game with a goal. Mariah Gatti and JoJo Hesketh followed with goals of their own to give Oregon a 3-0 lead five minutes in before Vermont (0-9) got on the board with a goal. Bella Pyne and Gatti then scored to make it 5-1, Ducks, with Williams picking up the assist on Gatti's second score.

Leading 5-2 with 14 minutes left in the first, the Ducks erupted for seven unanswered goals to take a commanding 12-2 lead with two minutes remaining. Two more goals by Pyne, sandwiched around a Rachel Steinberg goal, started the run for Oregon before Williams ripped off two in a row to push Ducks into double-digits (10-2). Jill Zubillaga then scored her first-career goal, and Cambi Cukar got in on the fun with her fourth goal of the year. Vermont was able to score with 35 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to nine at half.

Williams once again got things going for Oregon to start the second half with her fourth goal of the game to tie her career-high. Back-to-back goals by Cukar and Hesketh gave Oregon its biggest lead of the day at 15-3 before Vermont responded with a pair of scores.

Up by 10 with less than 12 minutes left, Williams broke her career-high with her fifth goal of the day at the 11:54 mark before scoring again 5:20 remaining to put the punctuation mark on the win.

Who Stood Out: Williams finished with a career-high six goals and added two assists to set another career-high with eight points. Pyne tallied her third hat trick of the year with three goals while adding two assists, and Cukar, Gatti and Hesketh each finished with a pair of scores. The Ducks out-shot Vermont, 31-18, in a solid defensive effort while forcing 13 turnovers, and senior goalie Becca Katzen (6-2) made four saves while allowing seven goals.

What it Means: The Ducks continued to operate at a high level offensively, scoring more than 15 goals for the third time this season and more than 11 for the seventh time. Oregon has now won four of its last five games and will look to carry this momentum into Sunday's conference game at No. 4 Colorado.

Notable: Cukar tallied one assist to record the 100th of her career, and she is now only 14 shy of the all-time Oregon record … The Ducks dominated Vermont on draw controls, 19-7, led by seven from Gatti … Williams now has 26 goals this season to lead the team through eight games, only four shy of her team-leading mark of 30 from last season.

Up Next: The Ducks will take their 3-0 conference record into Boulder, Colo., on Sunday to face their first ranked opponent of the season in No. 4 Colorado at 11 a.m. on Pac-12 Networks.