Late Goal Denies Ducks Victory

Thursday, October 10

Eugene, OR

7:00 PM

University of Oregon

4-3-5, 0-2-2

California

9-3-1, 1-2-1

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
California	0	1	0	0	1
Oregon	1	0	0	0	1

The Oregon Ducks take on the California Golden Bears at Papé Field in Eugene, Oregon on October 10, 2019 (Samuel Marshall/Eric Evans Photography)

Photo by: Samuel Marshall

10/10/19 | Women's Soccer

Box Score California-Oregon Box Score

Oregon settled for a tie with California on Thursday after the Golden Bears knotted the score 1-1 with less than three minutes left in regulation.

By: Rob Moseley

EUGENE, Ore. — A halftime lead for the Oregon soccer team held up all the way to the 88th minute of regulation Thursday night, but California tied it and the Pac-12 Conference game ended in a 1-1 draw before 968 fans at Papé Field.

Zoe Hasenauer's fourth goal of the season gave Oregon the lead in the 34th minute. But with less than three minutes to play, UO goalkeeper Katelyn Carter deflected a shot only to have the ball ricochet into the side of the net for the tying goal.

"Soccer hurts sometimes, and this is one of those games that hurts," UO coach Kat Mertz said. "I thought we were the better team, and I thought we did enough to pull out the three points. But unfortunately that is why we love to hate this game."

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How It Happened: Coming off a road trip that saw them go 0-2-1, including a shutout loss at Utah on Sunday, the Ducks (4-3-5) took the fight to California in the opening minutes Friday. Oregon had 13 shots and four corner kicks in the first half, to Cal's five shots and one corner kick.

The Ducks endured a harrowing moment in the 32nd minute when Cal's Abigail Kim launched a cross from the right side. The ball got past a diving Carter and was wide of the goal, but was collected on the left side by Kim's teammate Emma Westin — whose shot at her eighth goal of the season was just wide of the near post.

Oregon quickly countered. Hasenauer began her drive to the go-ahead goal up the right side, cut to the middle of the field and past a Cal defender, then launched a missile off her left foot that curled just inside the right post.

"I had a shot earlier in the half that had gone off the post," said Hasenauer, who led the Ducks with eight shots in the game. "So I knew I had that shot down. … I thought the first one was going to go in off the post, but it didn't. So I was hungry for the next one."

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For most of the rest of the match, it looked like that goal would be decisive. But Cal evened the score at 87:03 of the match. Mia Corbin took a shot to the near post from the left side of the goal, and though Carter was able to reach above her head and deflect it with both hands, the ball came off at too sharp an angle and stayed in the net.

"I was proud of us in the overtime," Mertz said. "I was a little nervous; I was, to be honest, I was. I didn't know what kind of fight we would have after giving up that goal, and I'm really proud of them. I'm proud of the Ducks."

Who Stood Out: It was the third time this season that Hasenauer has attempted at least eight shots in a game.

What It Means: The heartbreaking goal denied the Ducks a chance to get a win amid the grueling gantlet of Pac-12 play. Among the positives, though, were a much better start than in recent games — fueled by a lively home crowd — and the gritty overtime performance to at least preserve a tie.

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Notable: Prior to the match, Mertz was presented with a souvenir ball to mark her 100th career victory earlier this season. … The tie broke Cal's five-match winning streak in the series. … Oregon's 23 goals in 12 games is second only to the 2007 season when the Ducks scored 24 times in their first 12 games.

Up Next: Oregon hosts No. 2 Stanford on Sunday (noon PT, Pac-12 Network).