Eugene, Or. – The Ducks showed glimpses of greatness over the weekend against ranked PNCLL opponents Simon Fraser (3) and Washington (23). Coach Andrew Clough said of the weekend match-ups, "The great thing about playing such a tough schedule like we have over the last few weeks is that it exposes a lot of areas that we have to work on to us and shows what kind of team we are in pressure-filled situations."

Oregon opened the weekend Friday night against perennial PNCLL rival Simon Fraser in arguably the biggest game of the year for both teams. The Ducks looked to bounce back from two straight losses in California against Loyola Marymount (11) and Chapman (2,) while Simon Fraser faced their first tough test after a string of blowout victories since playing BYU in a game that had playoff implications for both teams. The Ducks hosted their biggest crowd of the year and they made their presence felt throughout the game in typical Oregon fashion.

The U of O started the game strong, taking and holding the lead early in what would prove to be a back and forth battle the entire sixty minutes. Chad Loescher started the scoring for the Ducks after the defense held when they were two men down and Oregon held the lead 4-3 at the end of the first quarter. The fast pace of the game continued in the second quarter, with the teams trading scores Oregon kept its hold on the lead 8-6 at halftime.

Simon Fraser came out strong from halftime and quickly evened the score at 8 until Loescher put in another one of his 3 goals to once again give the Ducks the lead. Oregon still had possession of the lead 11-10 at the end of the third quarter but the Clan once again started strong and went on a three goal run to take their first lead of the game with about 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

After SFU took the lead the Ducks started making some questionable decisions on the field which led to fast break goals and the final score of 16-12. Coach John Wright said of the fourth quarter, "We looked really great for most of the game but as a young team we really need to learn how to close out a team like Simon Fraser, who is a very good team in their own right, and play a complete sixty minutes."

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Sunday afternoon the Ducks looked to exact revenge for their Friday night's loss on another league rival, the University of Washington, who were trying to move up in the rankings with an upset win. After the loss to Simon Fraser, the Ducks felt as though they had to win against UW to preserve their seeding for the PNCLL playoffs and stop their losing skid. Oregon started the game strong and never looked back against the Huskies, holding the lead 5-2 at the end of the first and 9-3 at halftime in the last home game of the year for the University of Oregon.

It was clear that the Ducks wanted to send their seniors out on a good note as they controlled the ball for the majority of the game on offense and played tenacious take away defense from the get-go. After Oregon had put in some of their younger players to get experience, Washington scored five goals in the fourth quarter but by then the game was out of reach. The final score ended at 16-9 in favor of the Ducks.

After a tough last couple weeks the Ducks will enjoy a bye week and then play Oregon State in the annual Civil War Saturday, April 18 at Sunset High School in Portland.

2009-04-07