EUGENE, Ore. - The Oregon women's lacrosse team lead 5-4 at halftime but after a furious opening to the second period by Johns Hopkins that saw the Blue Jays score five unanswered goals, the Ducks tallied seven scores to just one more by JHU to seal a come from behind win, 12-10.

The Ducks improve to 5-2 on the season with the win inside Autzen Stadium. Due to the driving rain prior to the game, the conditions at Pape' Field were so poor the Ducks were forced to move the match to the Autzen turf. The game's start time was also pushed back from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Ilsa van den Berg led all scorers with five goals on the day, including four scores in a crucial second half stretch. The Oregon senior was sent off the field by a yellow card with just three seconds remaining in the first half. She had to serve the remaining time for the penalty on the bench in the second half, and that allowed Johns Hopkins to take advantage of the Ducks, who were a player down.

"I came out at the end of the first half with the yellow card and I watched them score three goals," van den Berg said. "II knew I had to make a difference in the second half. Every time I shot the ball I made sure it was going behind the goalie."

Van den Berg scored her first goal of the second half, second overall, with 15:10 left on the clock but she was hardly finished. The Reisterstown, Md., native netted three more goals in the second half, all coming within less than two and a half minutes of each other.

"She has a great supporting cast, but has been waiting for her time to shine," said head coach Jen Larsen about van den Berg. "Today was her day."

With the Ducks now back up by two, 11-9, JHU's Brett Bathras scored with less than seven minutes to play to cut the UO lead back to one. But Oregon netted another goal, this time from Alex Briner, to go back up by a pair and finish off the win, 12-10.

"Our team really believes in themselves," Larsen said. "The upperclassmen leaders help to show the freshmen the presence that they can have."

The Ducks will be back in action this weekend, hosting Colgate on Saturday March 21. The match is scheduled to begin at noon at Pape' Field.

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EUGENE, OR - The Oregon Ducks used a 7-1 run late in the second half to defeat visiting Johns Hopkins on Sunday afternoon at Autzen Stadium. The Blue Jays drop their second straight and slip to 2-4 on the season while the Ducks win their fourth straight to improve to 5-2. Senior Jenny Higgins (Reisterstown, MD/Franklin) notched a career-high three points to lead Hopkins.

Due to the driving rain prior to the game, the conditions at Papé Field were so poor the Ducks were forced to move the match to the Autzen turf, Oregon's football stadium. The game's start time was also pushed back from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm.

Trailing 5-4 to start the second half, Hopkins needed just 41 seconds to knot the score as freshman Candace Rossi (Farmingdale, NY/Farmingdale) took a pass from junior Brett Bathras (Severna Park, MD/Severn) and scored her team leading 15th goal of the season. That ignited a 5-0 Blue Jay run as Hopkins turned a one-goal deficit into a four-goal lead with 17:43 to play. Junior Sam Schrum (Pasadena, MD/St. Mary's) scored off an assist from Higgins just 31 seconds later to give Hopkins the lead. Freshman Colleen McCaffrey (Mount Sinai, NY/Mount Sinai) then sandwiched a pair of goals around a Higgins strike and the Blue Jays led 9-5.

Ilsa van den Berg rallied the Ducks over the next 10 minutes as she had a hand in five of Oregon's next six goals. She assisted on Jana Drummond's goal with 16:27 to kick start the run, before scoring three straight, including the game-tying goal with 9:01 remaining in the game. Jana Drummond then connected with her sister Jess Drummond just 16 seconds later to give the Ducks their first lead since the start of the second half. Van den Berg then pushed Oregon's lead to two with a free position shot. Bathras halted the run with her second of the day with 6:23 remaining, cutting the deficit to two. But that would be as close as the Blue Jays would get. Alex Breiner scored a free position goal for the Ducks to close out the scoring with 4:32 left.

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2009-03-15