Oregon Ducks Weekly Women’s Soccer Digest

The Ducks (4-3) are back home for the first time since their season opener August 25th.

Photo: goducks.com

EUGENE - Oregon rides the momentum of a four-game winning streak -- all earned away from Eugene -- into this weekend’s matches with regional opponents Nevada and Idaho.

First up is the Wolf Pack -- undefeated on the road this season -- Friday night at 7:00 PM, followed by the Vandals on Sunday at 1:00 PM.

It will be the Ducks’ first home games since the Aug. 25 season opener.

DEFENSE STEPS UP IN FROM OF FRESHMAN KEEPER:

With 2005 Pac-10 all-freshman goalkeeper Jessie Chatfield still sidelined with a broken right hand, freshman goalie Emily Zaler and the Oregon defenders have stepped up in her absence. So much so, that Zaler and the team are threatening records set just last season. Oregon has held opponents scoreless for the last 244:36, which is the third-longest streak in school history.

Up next are 264:28 from the 1998 season and the school record of 355:47 set just last season. The Ducks could threaten both marks this weekend. Oregon has also posted back-to-back shutouts for only the fourth time in school history, but also for the third time in the last two seasons.

DEFENSE PART TWO:

Oregon’s defense is taking an active role in the team’s offense this season. Five of Oregon’s eight assists have come from defensive players -- defensive midfielder Jen Cameron with two and defenders Barbara Blocker, Danielle Sweeney and Dylann Tharp with one a piece. Blocker also has a goal from the back line. Last year, the defenders combined for seven assists over the course of the 19-game season.

ZALER NAMED PAC-10 PLAYER OF THE WEEK:

Oregon freshman goalkeeper Emily Zaler has been named the Pac-10 women’s soccer player of the week for Sept. 12-18, commissioner Tom Hansen announced Tuesday. Zaler started in the net for the second and third straight matches over the weekend, playing in place of the injured Jessie Chatfield, and responded with the first two shutouts of her career.

Zaler, a Scottsdale, Ariz., native, and Chatfield are the only freshmen in Oregon history to record consecutive shutouts. She has started the last three matches on Oregon’s current four-game win streak. This is Zaler’s first Pac-10 Player of the Week honor, and Oregon’s fourth weekly honor all-time.

GARBIN GRABS 12TH OREGON RECORD:

Senior forward Nicole Garbin picked up her 12th Oregon record on Sept. 17th when she got the game-winning assist against Eastern Washington. It was her sixth career game-winning assist, tying her with Andrea Valadez (2003-05) atop that UO list. She now hold or shares the UO career record for game-winninng goals, penalty kick goals, assists, game-winning assists and shots (she became the first UO player to reach 200 shots against EWU).

The Wailuku, Hawaii, native also holds or shares the Oregon single season record for goals, game-winning goals, penalty kick goals, assists, game-winning assists, points and shots.

Ranking first or second in virtually every career offensive category at Oregon, Garbin is making a bid for national honors. In the spring, the two-time All-Pac-10 selection was granted a rare sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA. She now shows two goals and one assist on the season and needs 7 more goals and 6 points to become Oregon’s career leader in those categories. See p. 2 for a list of current players in the UO career top 10.

MORE STREAKS:

Oregon’s four-game winning streak is tied for the third-longest in school history, trailing a five-game streak in 2003 and a six-game streak in 2005. The Ducks have also scored a goal in five straight matches, which is three games off the school record. One streak the Ducks would like to shake this weekend is their five-game home losing streak, which dates back to last season.

To be fair, it should be noted that four of the losses came in 2005 and all were to NCAA Tournament teams from the Pac-10 (UCLA, USC, California and Stanford). The fifth was this year’s season opener to Long Beach State, now a top-25 team itself.

OFF I.R. AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE:

Three veterans who either missed time last season or this spring due to injury have come back to the playing field and made vital contributions for the Ducks this fall. Forward Leigh Quinlan and midfielder Jen Cameron returned to varsity action after redshirting the 2005 season due to knee injuries.

Quinlan, a freshman from Victoria, B.C., scored the game-winner Sept. 10th against Iona for her first collegiate goal. Cameron, a sophomore from Tigard, Ore., recorded assists in back-to-back games versus New Hampshire and Iona, including one on the game-winner versus UNH. After missing the first five games of the year recovering from spring ankle surgery, junior forward Tiffany Smith scored the game-winner in just her second appearance of the season, a 1-0 victory at Eastern Washington on Sept. 17th.

TOUGH SCHEDULE:

Oregon’s three losses have come to opponents that have had a great first month of the season in 2006. Through Sunday, the combined record of Long Beach State (7-1-0), UC Riverside (5-2-0) and Loyola Marymount (4-1-2) was 16-4-2! The one loss for Long Beach -- now a top-25 team -- came at UCLA.

ABOUT NEVADA AND IDAHO:

Oregon and Nevada meet for the third time on Friday. The Ducks have won the previous two meetings by identical 2-1 scores. Last season, Andrea Valadez and Nicole Garbin scored first half goals in Oregon’s win at the University of Wyoming’s tournament. Garbin also scored the game-winner in the Wolf Pack’s only other visit to Eugene in 2001.

Oregon and Idaho will meet for the first time since the 2001 season. The Ducks hold a 2-0-1 advantage in the series’ three prior meetings. That last meeting produced a 1-1 tie in Moscow, while Oregon has won the two games played in Eugene.

EXTREME RECORDS:

One week after setting the mark for the longest scoreless streak in school history, the Ducks rewrote the record books by scoring the fastest goals ever at Oregon. On Sept. 10 versus Iona, Barbara Blocker and Leigh Quinlan scored goals just 64 seconds apart, beating the previous record by :07 seconds. Also against the Gaels, the Ducks lit up the scoreboard three times in 8:56 to cap the 3-2 comeback win. It was the third-fastest three-goal span in school history.

CHATFIELD SIDELINED WITH BROKEN HAND:

All-Pac-10 freshman goalkeeper Jessie Chatfield will miss at least two more matches recovering from a broken right hand she sustained during the second half of the Sept. 8th New Hampshire game. True freshman Emily Zaler started in place of Chatfield two days later against Iona and made three saves in earning the win.

With senior GK Emily Marrer out for the immediate future, still rehabbing a spring shoulder injury, Oregon’s emergency goalkeeper will be midfielder Darcie Gardner, a multi-sport star in high school. The Ducks have also been without FR M Rianna Mansfield, the 2005 Oregon state player of the year, who has missed the last four games with a sore hip flexor.

Also, JR D Dylann Tharp suffered a broken right index finger against Eastern Washington, but will be able to play this weekend, keeping her streak of 45 consecutive games played (44 straight starts) in tact.

SHOOTING DUCKS:

Oregon continues to fire at the opponent’s net and it paid off with five goals in the last three games. The Ducks are averaging 13.4 shots per game (fifth in the Pac-10) and have outshot the opposition 94-73 on the season. In the second half games this year, the Ducks have really put the pressure on, holding a commanding 62-32 edge in shots.

GAME BREAKER:

Since her career began in 2001, the Ducks are 30-30-3 when Nicole Garbin takes the field, and 5-28-5 when she has been injured or missed games due to a red card.

UPON FURTHER REVIEW:

Freshman defender Barbara Blocker was originally credited with two assists to go along with her goal Sept. 10th versus Iona. But upon video review, the assist on Oregon’s first goal, which was scored by Allison Newton, should have been credited to freshman Teresa Bowns.

Bowns received a throw-in and crossed the ball to the left side of the field, where Newton ran onto it and scored, so a correction was made. Blocker still played a large part in that comeback, scoring the tying goal and assisting on Leigh Quinlan’s game-winner and was named to the OSU Soccer Classic all-tournament team.

ZALER THE 10TH ROOKIE TO PLAY IN 2006:

Freshman Emily Zaler became the 10th Oregon newcomer to play in 2006 when she started in goal Sept. 10th versus Iona, making three saves in the 3-2 win. The nine newcomers who have played for Oregon so far this season are freshmen Barbara Blocker, Teresa Bowns, Melissa Buich, Rianna Mansfield, Dani Oster, Leigh Quinlan, Danielle Sweeney, Megan Watson, and sophomore Adriana Montes.

NEWTON ENDS UO SCORING DROUGHT:

Sophomore midfielder Allison Newton ended Oregon’s school record scoring drought with her first career goal at the 65:14 mark Sept. 3 at Loyola Marymount. Prior to that score, the Ducks had gone 571:24 without scoring a goal, dating back to a 1-0 win at Washington Oct. 28th, 2005.

ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY:

The opening week of the season was quite eventful for the Erickson family. Oregon head coach Tara Erickson gave birth to daughter Taj Makena on Aug. 23rd. Less than two days after giving birth, she returned to the sideline for the Ducks’ season-opener versus Long Beach State. Erickson then celebrated her 33rd birthday the next day.

And four days after Taj Makena’s birth, dad Kraig Erickson competed in Ironman Canada (Penticton, B.C.) and completed the triathlon in 12:34:33, placing 863rd out of 2,352 entrants (2,175 finished).

CHATFIELD PASSES 100 CAREER SAVES:

Back for her second season in the net, goalkeeper Jessie Chatfield made six saves -- including one tremendous stop on a penalty kick -- in the season opener against Long Beach State. That lifted her career total over 100, as the Eugene, Ore., native became the fourth Oregon keeper to surpass 100 career saves.

She now shows 119 career saves. Chatfield was named Pac-10 all-freshman and all-conference honorable mention after recording seven shutouts in 2005, and was one of three freshmen (Nicole Dobrzynski, Allison Newton) to start on defense for the Ducks last season.

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