Ducks take Bruins
to two overtimes;
fall 3-2 to end year
Oregon ends the season
with two home losses
against USC and UCLA but
comes close on Sunday
By Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
To end the season so close to the
next step, with so much heartbreak —
it was truly a dour weekend for Ore
gon soccer.
It took two overtimes for the No. 2
ranked team in the country to defeat
a team that was supposed to finish
last in the con
ference accord
ing to a presea
son poll.
UCLA de
feated Oregon,
3-2, in double
sudden-death overtime at Pape Field
on Sunday afternoon in the Ducks' fi
nal regular season game.
Oregon played like it was the final
game of the season. The Ducks re
fused to die, taking the game down to
the final seconds of each half and
striking when they needed to.
"It was a tough game," senior team
captain Lindsey WerdelI said. "1 think
people are pretty happy with the way
we played. I mean, it sucks losing in
double overtime."
Werdell and her defense continual
ly stopped a dominant UCLA offense
DUCK
SOCCER
that accounted for 21 shots and 10
shots on goal. But the true star was
redshirt sophomore Nicole Garbin.
Garbin scored both goals for Ore
gon, moving her season total to sev
en. IbeWailuku, Hawaii, native's per
formance was brilliant in both when
she scored and how she scored.
After UCLA scored first in the
39th minute off a header by mid
fielder Whitney Jones, Oregon was
awarded a free kick five minutes lat
er. Defender Carlie Ashcraft tapped
the ball to Garbin, who faked her
defender by tapping the ball with
her right foot, just behind her left
foot.
"It's one of our plays that we prac
tice," Garbin said. "It came all in slow
motion, I just turned and looked and
it was in the back of the net."
Garbin's trickery came from 8-yards
center and tied the game with just 32
seconds left in the half.
The second half was strikingly fa
miliar to the first, and neither team
could gain an edge early. Oregon's
defense continued to demand re
spect as it cleared out shot after shot
by the Bruins and survived a three
corner-kick stand by UCLA at one
point.
In the 81st minute, forward Iris
Mora gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead af
ter Oregon goalkeeper Domenique
Lainez charged in on her. Mora
chipped the ball over Lainez's head
and watched it slowly trickle into
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Mark McCambridge Photographer
Manager Sarah Peters (left) and midfielder Nicole Garbin (right) comfort goalkeeper Domenique Lainez after Sunday’s loss.
the goal.
And when it appeared it was all
over, Garbin struck again. At 88:55,
Garbin scored from five yards left on
a slide tackle type of maneuver. Red
shirt freshman Andrea Valadez got
the assist, along with three shots of
her own.
Garbin finished the day with four
shots, all of them on goal.
"Hopefully we gained people's re
spect from this," Garbin said. "We
battled the No. 2 team in the nation.
We took them to double overtime. We
frustrated them out there; at times we
outworked them. We broke them
down. For that, we have every right to
keep our head up."
With three minutes gone in the sec
ond overtime, Mora scored again for
UCLA to end the game.
Oregon also came up short against
USC on Friday night at Pape Field.
The Trojans struck 36 seconds into the
game on their first play. Werdell
scored Oregon's only goal off a penal
ty kick in the 58th minute. The Ducks
lost 3-1.
And so it comes to an end. Ore
gon finishes 9-11 overall and 3-6 in
the Pacific-10 Conference. The
chances of advancing to the NCAA
tournament are minimal, and the
Ducks will likely have to wait anoth
er season.
But the Ducks finished with a
close loss in their only double-over
time game of the season. It was
against the second-best team in the
nation.
Oregon has proved its point.
Contact the sports reporter
at jessethomas@dailyemerald.com.
Mark McCambridge Photographer
Oregon’s Cristan Higa (2) battles UCLA’s Jill Oakes in Sunday’s heated contest.