Emerald
Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz
Sports Editor: Tim Pyle
Best Bet
MLB Postseason
Boston vs. Cleveland
1p.m., ESPN
Oregon misses mark in Pac-10 openers
i ne ducks are
unable to cash in
on scoring
opportunities in
losing to
Stanford and
California at
Pape Field
by brett williams
Oregon Daily Emerald
Frustrating is missing opportunities and
losing. The Oregon women’s soccer team’s
season has been way beyond frustrating.
The Ducks lost two heartbreakers this
weekend, first to Stanford 1-0 on Friday
and then to California by the same score
Sunday at Pap6 Field.
Both games were difficult to swallow for
Oregon (4-8 overall, 0-2 Pacific-10 Confer
ence), which outplayed the Golden Bears in
the second half Sunday but couldn’t net a
score. The Ducks played close with No. 20
Stanford as well, losing on a Cardinal
penalty kick in the waning moments of the
first half.
Oregon continued its scoring drought,
outshooting California 17-9 but walking
away in defeat. Oregon head coach Bill
Steffen has seen his team repeatedly create
chances and not capitalize.
“It’s tough to go through,” Steffen said.
“We controlled, dominated, and played
hard, but there was no re
sult. It seems like we hit
everything except the
net.”
The Golden Bears
struck early in the game
when midfielder Kim
Brown squeezed the ball
past Oregon goalkeeper Amanda Fox with
just five minutes elapsed.
With momentum on its side, California
held off the Ducks the rest of the way to pre
serve the win.
“That score gave them confidence,” Stef
fen said. “If you don’t score that first one,
you worry about scoring the rest of the
game. We came out [in the second half]
with the realization that we could play with
and beat this team.
“It’s frustrating to win battles and not
win the game.”
The game was especially frustrating for
Oregon midfielder Sierra Marsh and for
ward Chalise Baysa. Marsh had four shots
and Baysa three, but neither was able to get
the Ducks on the scoreboard.
Just three minutes into the second half,
Oregon penetrated California’s defense and
got two good looks at the goal. First, Aly
Hill’s header hit the crossbar. Before Cali
fornia could react, Baysa followed with a
shot that was blocked by the Bear defense.
Turn loUO Soccer, Page 12A
The Hustle
Friday
Stanford 1, Oregon 0
Saturday
California 1, Oregon 0
Next
Oregon at Oregon
State, Saturday at
2 p.m.
Flighty Ducks crash inches short of comeback win
■ Oregon jumps out to a 10-3
lead, tails behind 34-10, then
rallies to come up just short in a
wild 34-29 loss
By Mirjam Swanson
Oregon Daily Emerald
PASADENA, Calif.— The greatest
Oregon comeback that almost was was
made possible by the Ducks’ own dis
satisfying, lackluster play in Saturday’s
34-29 loss to UCLA (3-3 overall, 1-2 Pa
cific-10 Conference).
Oregon’s (3-3,1-2) miscues made for
a dramatic fourth quarter, which the
Ducks began trailing 34-10.
Linebacker Matt Smith sparked the
raucous final act with a quarter-open
ing interception that he returned 81
yards for a touchdown.
But it all ended painfully, less than
a yard from both the goal line and vic
tory.
“This may be the hardest loss that
Oregon 29
UCLA 34
I’ve ever had to go through,” Smith
said. “For our team to play as hard as
we did and come back and then lose,
it’s devastating.”
After Smith’s heroics, with the score
34-16, the Ducks scored 13 points in
the next 3 1/2 minutes.
Six came on a one-play touchdown
drive that took seven seconds off the
clock. Junior quarterback A.J. Feeley
found freshman receiver Keenan
Howry for a 44-yard score, and the
Ducks were down 34-24.
Less than a minute later, Reuben
Droughns — playing despite a painful
rib injury — made an 11-yard dash into
the end zone to further narrow the
score to 34-29 after Oregon had forced
a fumble on a kickoff return.
The Ducks went for a two-point con
version after both touchdowns and
missed both.
With 1:29 to go, UCLA had the ball
at the Oregon 40 with third-and-11.
But Corey Paus’ throw to star receiver
Danny Farmer fell incomplete and the
rejuvenated Ducks had one last chance
to win.
One minute, 16 seconds to advance
89 yards for a game-winning touch
down.
Their march turned out to be spec
tacular, gut-wrenching and in the end,
one yard too short.
n .. Scott Barnett Emerald
Despite nis worst performance as a starter for the Ducks, junior quarterback A. J. Feeley still threw for
313 yards and two touchdowns and led Oregon to within half a yard of the winning score as time expired.
“I’m very proud of the kids,” head
coach Mike Bellotti said. “I told the
kids at the start of the fourth quarter
that this would be the greatest come
back in the history of the school, if they
believe in it. And they did it. I tell you
what, they came up short on the score
board, but nowhere else. My kids bat
tled back.”
Feeley looked all over the field on
the drive.
First, he hit tight end LaCorey
Collins for a 19-yard completion.
Then, Droughns caught a pass and
ran 20 yards.
And junior receiver Marshaun Tuck
er pulled in a 17-yard reception.
With 31 seconds left, Droughns
caught another pass and dashed for 17
yards — threatening the entire time to
break completely loose — before being
caught from behind.
Eight seconds left, and Feeley
missed senior flanker Tony Hartley.
And then, with four seconds remain
ing, Feeley spotted Tucker crossing
from left to right in front of the end
zone. He fired. Tucker made the catch.
And then he got clobbered before he
could push his way in for a touch
down.
Game over.
UCLA won its fourth straight against
Turn to Duck football, Page 12A
Frustrating
incongruities
continue
Tim
Pyle
PASADENA, Calif.— The Ducks have an
identity crisis.
And it has never been more apparent
than it was Saturday night in a mad
dening display of extremes at the Rose Bowl.
There was the good: a three-play, 84-yard
drive that gave Oregon a 7-0 lead on A.J. Fee
ley’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Chad Chance
just one minute, five seconds into the game.
There was the bad: consecutive turnovers
deep in Duck territory near the end of the sec
ond quarter that turned a 10-6 lead into a 20-10
halftime deficit.
And there was the ugly: an ineffective of
fense and a Snuggles soft defense that left Ore
gon down 34-10 midway through the third
quarter.
Then, there was almost the miraculous, as
the Ducks doggedly clawed — waddled? —
their way back into a seemingly lost game with
19 points in a span of 3:36 at the beginning of
the fourth only to be denied a winning touch
down by half a yard as time expired.
All in all, the game unfolded in three waves
with Oregon (3-3 overall, 1-2 Pacific-10 Con
ference) winning the first, 10-3, and the last,
19-0, but being doomed by a disastrous sec
ond, 34-0 UCLA, in the Bruins’ (3-3,1-2) 34-29
victory.
The sequence was parallel with the Ducks’
overall performance so far this season: superb
at times, silly at others.
The offense has been explosive with
nanosecond scoring drives one moment, then
entirely predictable thanks to no running game
whatsoever the next.
It has both made big plays — the game-tying
drive against Southern California, for instance
— and lost big plays, like Herman Ho-Ching’s
fumble that was returned 85 yards for the de
ciding touchdown at Michigan State.
The defense has looked deadly with bone
crushing blows by linebackers Peter Sirmon
and Matt Smith one series, only to be equally
defective with missed coverages and an inabil
Turri to Tim Pyle, Page 12A