Ducks Dominate on Senior Day

Saturday, April 20

Eugene, OR

12:00 PM

University of Oregon

8-5, 2-4P12

Arizona State

7-9, 2-4P12

Arizona State

Oregon

04/20/24 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score Photo Gallery

EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon lacrosse team celebrated its 2024 senior class with a dominant 20-12 victory over Arizona State on Saturday in the Ducks' final home game of the season at Papé Field.

The Ducks improved to 8-5 overall and 2-4 in conference play, picking up a crucial win to keep their hopes of qualifying for the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament intact. Oregon scored 20 goals in a game for the first time since 2020.

Eleven seniors were honored following the game, in which six of them scored at least one goal or dished out an assist. Morgan McCarthy led the way with five goals, five draw controls and two ground balls in her final home game as a Duck, and sophomore Anna Simmons added five goals of her own to help pace the offensive attack.

"We talked about it a lot, especially after coming off that loss to San Diego State, that this week in practice we needed to give one more percent," head coach Jessica Drummond said. "Having that mentality, we did a lot of competitive drills throughout the week where they didn't have to dwell or think about things too much and I think it showed today. Not thinking about your mistakes and just going on to that next play mentality and that today was a part of our resilience."

How it Happened: The Ducks jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the game's first four minutes. Rachel Pallo found the back of the net just eight minutes into the game, and Simmons followed with back-to-back goals in a span of less than a minute before McCarthy made it 4-0 with her first of the day on a free-position shot.

Arizona State (7-9, 2-4 Pac-12) responded with three goals in a row to make it a one-score game, but Simmons came back with back-to-back goals again to give her four in the first quarter. The Sun Devils cut UO's lead to 6-4 with just five seconds left in the first quarter.

The Ducks outscored ASU 5-3 in the second quarter to take an 11-7 lead into halftime. Alyssa Wright found the net on her senior day, before McCarthy scored her second of the day to make it 8-4. After an ASU goal, Wright found another senior in Madysyn Sweeney for a goal.

Simmons answered a pair of ASU goals with her fifth of the game with 4:11 left in the half, and Riley Taylor took advantage of a woman-up advantage for the Ducks with a free-position goal to send UO into the break with a four-goal lead.

Oregon was dominant in the third quarter, scoring six unanswered goals before ASU netted its lone score of the period with just 1:21 remaining. McCarthy scored twice in the period to get to four goals on the day, and also notching her ninth hat trick of the season and 20th of her career. Pallo, Taylor, Sweeney and Wright each scored once, and Taylor also dished out a pair of assists in the quarter on goals by Sweeney and Wright.

McCarthy opened the fourth quarter with her fifth goal of the day, a slick behind-the-back shot that matched Simmons and put her in the Pac-12's top 10 all-time leading scorer's list with 115 career goals.

"It was awesome," McCarthy said. "Alyssa Wright was down low and fed me. Sometimes you don't really think about it, you just do it…We do stick work, behind the backs. It's just part of the game. It was really cool to do it on senior night with my teammates."

Fellow senior Haley Cummins scored off a pass from classmate Bailey Smith, and Katie Collins became the fifth senior to score on the day as Oregon reached the 20-goal mark for the first time since 2020 on a free-position shot with just over a minute to go.

Who Stood Out: Simmons also had an assist to go with her five goals, finishing with a team-high six total points. McCarthy had five goals, and Sweeney, Pallo, Taylor and Wright each scored twice to give Oregon six multi-goal scorers. Taylor added three assists and Wright dished out a pair. Oregon pressured ASU into 19 total turnovers with 14 caused turnovers, including three by McCarthy and two each by seniors Sydnie Soto and Lexie Likins.

Up Next: The Ducks will close the regular season at Colorado on Friday, April 26, at 5 p.m. PT. The top six teams in the conference will qualify for the Pac-12 Championships, set for May 1-4 in Los Angeles.