Dominant First Half Pushes Oregon Past JU
from press release
EUGENE, Ore. – Another explosive
offensive display in the first half propelled the Oregon lacrosse
team to a 15-9 win over Jacksonville at Pape’ Field on
Sunday.
The Ducks (2-1) outscored the Dolphins (3-2), 11-3, in the first
half and five players recorded multiple points in their
second-straight victory.
Bina Barrett led UO with her third-straight multi-point outing with
six points on three goals and three assists. The junior now has 18
points (11 goals, seven assists) in Oregon’s first three
games.
Alex Breiner returned to the lineup by tallying her first four
goals of the season, including the game-winning goal, to move her
into fourth on the school’s career scoring list with 86
career goals. She also led the Ducks with seven shots. Oregon also
got four-point days out of Jana Drummond (three goals and one
assist) and Shannon Propst (two goals and two assists) and a
three-point effort from Nikki Puszcz (two goals and one
assist).
It took nearly seven minutes for either team to get on the board,
but Puszcz got Oregon rolling 6:59 when she converted a feed from
Barrett to give UO the lead. Dominique Christiansen made it 2-0
Oregon 27 seconds later with her first goal of the year.
The score remained 2-0 until the 14:30 mark when Puszcz found
Drummond in transition for her first goal of the day. It was 4-0
less than two minutes later when Propst set Barrett with a nice
centering feed at the 16:12 mark.
The teams traded goals over the next six tallies before the Ducks
broke a 7-3 game open with four-straight tallies to close the first
half. Drummond started the onslaught with her third of the first
half, Barrett curled around the crease for her second tally of the
day and Breiner fired one home to make it 10-3 with just over a
minute left.
Perhaps the most impressive Oregon sequence occurred in the final
minute of the first half when Propst tracked down
Jacksonville’s Kaylee Quint at midfield, scooped up the
groundball and fired a shot into the net with two seconds remaining
to make it 11-3 at halftime.
Oregon’s 11 goals came on 14 shots and the Ducks held a
remarkable 13-2 advantage in draw controls in the opening 30
minutes of play.
The Dolphins scored two goals in the first two minutes of the
second half to pull within six, but the Ducks answered with the
next three tallies, two by Breiner and another by Barrett, to take
a commanding 14-5 lead with 14 minutes to play. Propst capped
Oregon’s scoring with her second of the afternoon with 7:56
remaining.
The Ducks outshot the Dolphins, 28-24, in the game and owned a 20-6
advantage in draw controls. Ground balls were nearly even, with JU
holding a slim 19-18 edge.
Salliebeth Finnegan earned her second win of the year by making two
first-half saves before giving way to Caroline Federighi, who
turned aside four shots.
Oregon heads on the road for two games next week and is back in
action on March 4 when it takes on Louisville.
