Ducks Close Out Road Swing At East Carolina

EUGENE, Ore. - The Oregon women's lacrosse team closes out its three-game road trip with another program first, taking on the East Carolina Pirates for the first time ever this Sunday at 9 a.m PT.

In the midst of their inaugural lacrosse season, the Pirates are yet another example of the growth of lacrosse across the NCAA with ECU, along with UO's latest opponent Vanderbilt and perennial powerhouse Florida, joining the American Athletic Conference for its maiden season in 2019.

GAME 11: OREGON (5-5, 2-3) vs. EAST CAROLINA (2-11)
Sunday, April 1 | 9 a.m. PT
Greenville, N.C. | Johnson Stadium
Live Stats: ecupirates.com
Live Video: ecupirates.com

DUCKS SNAP SKID ON WEEKEND ROAD SWING
After dropping two tough games against No. 12 USC and No. 15 Colorado, the Ducks looked to get back on track at No. 10 Towson this past Monday. UO fell into a hole early, going down 3-0 and eventually ending the first half trailing the Tigers 8-3. After Towson netted a goal to open the second period, Shannon Williams brought Oregon to life scoring to spark a 5-0 run in which five different Ducks found the back of the net. Natalie Modly got Oregon within one, 9-8, with just over 15 minutes left to play, but back-to-back goals from Towson stymied UO's momentum. The Tigers went on to outscore UO 4-1 in the final seven minutes to win the game 15-10.

Oregon's second game of the week nearly started out the same way as Vanderbilt scored the opening goal. Determined not to fall into a 3-0 hole for the fourth game in a row, the Ducks proceeded to trade goals with the Commodores eventually tying Vanderbilt 5-5 following a goal from Jill Zubillaga at the 5:45 mark in the first half. That goal sparked a 6-0 run for UO spanning the end of the first half and the start of the second, with Zubillaga scoring three of Oregon's six goals. Up 10-5, Oregon was able to keep Vanderbilt at bay throughout the second half, outscoring the Commodores 10-7, to record the 17-12 victory.

GOLAZO!
The Ducks' 17 goals, including the 10 scored in the second half, at Vanderbilt mark a season-high performance for Oregon. Three Ducks recorded hat tricks against the Commodores, marking only the second time this season UO has accomplished such a feat. Jill Zubillaga scored a career-high five goals with sophomore transfer Lexy Biller recording her first career hat trick at UO, she finished the game with four goals. Mariah Gatti completed the trifecta recording her fifth hat trick of the season. Seven Ducks found the back of the net against the Commodores with Cambi Cukar netting a season-high two goals followed by JoJo Hesketh, Natalie Modly and Shannon Williams scoring one each.

3, 2, 1 ... DRAW
Sophomore transfer Lexy Biller has been a beast in the starting circle for the Ducks this season. Only 10 games into her first season with Oregon, the former Louisville player far and away leads the Ducks with 74 draw controls so far this year, averaging 7.4 per game. The Ashburn, Va., native, currently ranks second in the Pac-12 and seventh in the nation in draw controls per game. Biller tied the UO single-game record with 10 draw controls against No. 7 Syracuse, and nearly tied it once more with nine in UO's last outing at Vanderbilt. With six games left this season, she needs only three more draw controls to tie the UO single-season record of 77 set by Carly O'Connell in 2014. If she continues at this blistering pace, Biller will finish the year with 118 draw controls to her name, which would rank eighth on the UO career draw controls list.

I'LL TAKE THAT
In Oregon's last game at Vanderbilt, senior goalkeeper Brittany Read was a vacuum around the net, scooping up any loose ball in sight. She finished the game with a UO single-game record 10 ground balls, breaking the previous record of eight, recorded three seperate times. Read ranks second in the Pac-12 averaging 3.4 ground balls per game, and needs just three more to tie for ninth on the UO single-season list.

DROPPING DIMES
To few people's surprise, senior Cambi Cukar is once again the Ducks leading distributor with 25 assists so far this season. Her 2.5 assists per game average currently leads the Pac-12 and ranks tied for seventh in the NCAA. The Pleasanton, Calif., native, has dished out a season-high four assists twice this year, first against California and most recently in UO's win at Arizona State. Cukar is already Oregon's all-time career assists leader with 149 so far in her career, good for 35 more than Shannon Propst who is second. With her 25th assist at Vanderbilt, she is now the only Duck to appear on the UO single-season record list four years running, tying Kristina Barrett for 10th with six games still to play.

WILLIAMS CLIMBS CAREER GOALS SCORED LIST AT UO
After netting her second goal at No. 10 Towson, junior Shannon Williams passed Shannon Propst for eighth all-time on the UO career goals scored list. Williams has been UO's leading goal scorer the past two seasons, scoring 51 goals in 2017 to become Oregon's new single-season scoring leader. So far, she has accounted for 107 goals in her career and needs just four more to tie Jana Bradley for seventh all-time with 111 career goals. Williams also passed Theresa Waldron for ninth on the Oregon career points list, with 157 points so far in her career. She needs just four more points to tie Nikki Puszcz for eighth.

YOU SHALL NOT PASS
In her first season as a Duck, transfer Brittany Read has already put up big numbers in the net for UO. At Vanderbilt, she recorded her sixth game this seaosn with double-digit saves, finishing with 10 against the Commodores. So far this season, she has recorded 99 saves placing her eighth on the UO single-season saves list and seventh on the career saves list. Her 9.9 saves per game average leads the Pac-12 and ranks 20th in the NCAA.

She had arguably two of her best performances for the Ducks at Arizona State and USC. The Gibbsboro, N.J., native, was a major key in nearly shutting out ASU in the first half. She finished the game with 11 saves in 54 minutes of action for a .733 save percentage, while allowing only four goals by the Sun Devils.

At No. 12 USC, after a high-scoring first half, Read clamped down allowing only one goal from the Trojans in the second half. Read recorded 10 saves in the second half, stopping all four of USC's free position shots in the period. She finished the game with a season-high 15 saves, three shy of the UO single-game record of 18.

SCOUTING THE DUCKS' OPPONENTS
Playing in their inaugural season, the ECU Pirates are currently 2-11 overall with their two wins coming against Gardner-Webb and most recently Delaware State. The Pirates have six players who have recorded at least 10 goals so far this season led by freshman Ally Stanton with 20. An extremely young team, ECU has two sophomores, one junior and one senior on their roster with the remaining 23 players freshmen.

SEASON SCHEDULE
The current 2018 season is filled with unique challenges for the Ducks. Apart from playing every Pac-12 team twice, Oregon will take on five teams who made it to the NCAA Tournament last season, Syracuse, Canisius, Towson, USC and Colorado. Four of those teams are currently ranked in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association's top 25 with Syracuse and Towson in the top 10. This year's schedule also offered two unique venues for the Ducks. The Ducks and the Orange squared off in West Linn, Ore., in a special game played at West Linn High School. Following that game, Oregon returned to Eugene to face Canisius on the campus rec fields.

READ NAMED INSIDE LACROSSE PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN
Oregon transfer Brittany Read was named an Inside Lacrosse 2018 preseason second team all-America selection. The all-America nod is only the second such honor in program history for Oregon, and the highest any Duck has been selected by Inside Lacrosse. Jen May is the only other Duck to receive Inside Lacrosse all-America honors after being selected to the all-America third team in 2008. The preseason award is based off Read's 2017 accomplishments which includes 194 total saves and a .512 save percentage ranking her fifth and sixth in the NCAA, respectively.

WORLD CUP PEDIGREE
Head coach Katrina Dowd won't be the only Lacrosse World Cup champion on the sidelines for the Ducks this year. Assistant coaches Michelle Tumolo and Becca Block both earned world cup gold this past summer, the first of their careers. The duo helped team USA go undefeated in tournament play, defeating Canada in the championship match.

LACROSSE BECOMES PAC-12 SPONSORED SPORT
With the establishment of the Arizona State women's lacrosse program, the Pac-12 was able to field the minimum number of required teams to qualify for a conference championship and NCAA tournament automatic-qualifying bid. This upcoming season, each team will play one another twice, home and away, with the first-ever Pac-12 lacrosse championships taking place in Boulder, Colo., Apr. 26-29.

LOOKING AHEAD
Following Sunday's game, the Ducks return to Eugene, and Pac-12 play, hosting Arizona State Friday, April 6, at 4 p.m. followed by No. 15 USC Sunday.