Ducks Bounce Back In Big Way

Sunday, March 8

Eugene, OR

12:00 PM

University of Oregon

2-5

Fresno State

2-5

Fresno State

Oregon

03/08/20 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Patrick Pierson

EUGENE, Ore. – Freshman Hanna Hilcoff and sophomore Shonly Wallace combined for 12 goals and the new-look Oregon offense looked sharp in its debut, as the Ducks rolled to a 20-12 win over Fresno State on Sunday at Pape Field.

In a span of less than 48 hours from the end of Friday's road game at Colorado leading up to Sunday's noon start, Oregon head coach Chelsea Gamble Hoffmann installed a new offense. The result was a 12-goal first half and the end of a five-game losing streak.

"We just put in a new offense yesterday that I was pretty excited about," Gamble Hoffmann said. "It's about giving them opportunities to harness our strengths, putting Brooke Rooney on the crease to look to feed and putting taller targets in the middle. I think that gave us an opportunity to have our roles set clearly to find out what we're best at."

Hilcoff – one of those taller targets – poured in six first-half goals en route to equaling the program single-game record with seven scores on the day. Two of Hilcoff's goals came off passes from Rooney, who turned her most extensive playing time of the season into five assists, which is one more than her total (4) entering the game. While Hilcoff took care of the scoring in the first half, Wallace did a lot of the work in the second half with four of her five goals.

HOW IT HAPPENED: Lost in the eight-goal win was the fact that Oregon fell behind 3-0 in the opening two minutes of the game before responding with six straight and 11 of the game's next 12 goals. Hilcoff got the Ducks on the board and ignited the run with an emphatic goal in which she shed a few defenders. It was just the start for Hilcoff, as she went to score four times during the 6-0 run.

Leading 6-4 midway through the half, Oregon blew the game open with five consecutive goals in just over six minutes to take an 11-4 advantage. Rooney was the catalyst of the run, dishing out four assists to three different players, including a pair to junior Lillian Stump, who is just two goals shy of 50 for her career.

Oregon built off its first halftime lead (12-6) since the season opener with six of the first eight goals of the second half that resulted in an 18-8 lead with 12:58 remaining. Wallace capped her third hat trick of the year with the first two goals of the period while Hilcoff's seventh made it three straight goals by the Ducks to open the second half. Sophomore Jamie Level buried back-to-back goals while junior Claire Domschick's third goal in the last four games ignited the running clock.

"I think they responded really well yesterday, going into a practice after getting off of a plane Friday," Gamble Hoffmann said. "They had a lot of good excitement and grit. They just really wanted to play as a team, and that's what we went and focused on. Putting both ends together and playing as one team and not playing so independently."

NOTABLES: Oregon has scored 20 goals in two of its three home games this season … Hilcoff's seven goals equals the program record set by Jana Drummond in 2009 at California … Hilcoff leads the team with four hat tricks … Hilcoff also led Oregon with eight draw controls and was followed closely by sophomore Lily Shalz who had a career-high seven … Hilcoff has had eight or more draw controls in four games this season … Junior goalie Alle Dunbar set a new season best with 12 saves … Dunbar has double-digit stops in three consecutive games … Wallace has scored 12 of her 20 goals at home … Wallace has scored 20 goals on 40 shots this season … Level finished with her second hat trick of the season and the fifth of her career … A total of seven different players scored a goal … Fresno State was just 2-of-14 on free-position shots.

UP NEXT: Oregon will resume Pac-12 action with a two-game road swing to No. 25 Stanford on Friday, March 13, and at California on Sunday, March 15. Game time at Stanford is slated for 3 p.m.