Time to Fly - Tracy Joyner Era Starts Thursday - University of Oregon Athletics

Oregon opens the Tracy Joyner era with home matches against Weber State (Thurs., 6:30 PM) and Portland (Sun., 6:30 PM). Both matches will be on B1G+. Oregon and Weber State haven't met since 2009. Portland holds the overall series lead, 16-2-2, but the Ducks are 2-0-2 in the last four games.

THE PITCH
• Tracy Joyner brings a 127-77 career record to Oregon and built winning programs at a junior college (41-15-7 at Santa Rosa JC), at an NCAA Division II school (36-25-12 at San Francisco State) and at the DI level (49-37-8 at UC Davis).
• Oregon welcomes 23 newcomers to the team for the fall - 9 freshmen and 14 transfers (6 from UC Davis).
• RS-Senior Sydney Chura was named the 2024 NAIA National Player of the Year after scoring 27 goals with 16 assists for SCAD.
• RS-Senior Jayde Holley led the Big West in assists with 8 last year at UC Davis. She has 12 career assists.
• Oregon has two alums playing professionally in the NWSL: Chardonnay Curran (Chicago Red Stars) and Leah Freeman (Bay FC).

BIG TEN PRESEASON HONORS
Sydney Chura, Carly Cormack and Jayde Holley were named to the Big Ten Preseason Watch List.

INTERNATIONALS & CALL-UPS
A number of Ducks were called up to national teams or pro training academies in the summer of 2025. Sophomore midfielder Carly Cormack was invited to the U.S. Women's National U-19 Team Camp in Fayetteville, Ga. Freshman defender Verónica Navarrete Cevada was called up to the Nicaraguan Senior National Team for CONCACAF Gold Cup qualifiers. Sixth-year defender Briana Pizarro is a member of the Puerto Rican National Team pool. Additionally, sixth-year forward Taylor Bryan was called to the Portland Thorns Academy First Team training camp.

CONNECTION TO UO SOCCER HISTORY RUNS DEEP
Freshman Selah Simms was coached in high school by Nicole (Garbin) Toeaina, arguably the best player in UO program history. Toeaina, the 2006 Pac-10 player of the year, remains Oregon's career leader in goals (34), game-winning goals (22) and shots (257). Toeaina was inducted into the UO Hall of Fame in 2017. Freshman Addisen Boyer set the Oak Harbor High career record with 106 goals. The previous Oak Harbor scoring record, 68, was set by Chalise Baysa (1994-97), who went on to become a three-time all-Pac-10 second team star for the Ducks and score a then-career record 31 goals for Oregon from 1998-2001. Sophomore Carly Cormack played at the same high school (Punahou) in Hawaii as former Ducks True Dydasco (2017-22), Starr Johnson (1998-01) and Jamie Kawamura (1996).

DAUGHTER OF USA SOCCER ICON NOW A DUCK
Freshman Izzy Sawyers is the daughter of Julie Foudy, one of the most iconic players in American soccer history. Foudy won FIFA World Cup titles with Team USA in 1991 and 1999 and brought home Olympic gold for the American side in 1996 and 2000. She was a four-time All-American at Stanford, and is currently an announcer for ESPN and part of the ownership group of Angel City FC of the National Women's Soccer League. Sawyers won't be the first Duck player with a famous mother. Dylan Tharp, an all-Pac-10 defender from 2004-07, is the daughter of ESPN's Shelley Smith.

ON TRACK
Sophomore Cloe Chase was the 2024 Oregon 4A state champion in the long jump with a personal-best mark of 18-2.25. She was the runner-up in 2023. Senior Sydney Chura was a member of Milford High School's 2017 Michigan state champion cross country team.

SISTER ACT
Sisters Jayde and Savannah Holley are just the second sisters to play soccer for the Ducks. The other set of sisters, Karen and Kathryn DePorter, player together at Oregon in 1996-97.

AGGIELAND TO TRACKTOWN
Six players who competed for new coach Tracy Joyner at UC Davis followed her to Oregon: Goalkeepers Caeley Goldstein and Gia Kiesling, defenders Elise Picard, Jayde Holley and Taylor Dever and midfielder Abella Hunter.

Papé STRONG
Oregon was solid at home in 2024, posting a 4-3-2 mark at Papé Field. Included in those results was a 1-1 tie with No. 5 Michigan State and a 2-1 loss to No. 22 UCLA where the Ducks led into the 77th minute before a penalty kick on the Ducks shifted the momentum to the Bruins.