Ducks Punch Ticket to Denver
Tacoma, WA. – The University of Oregon traveled to Tacoma this past weekend for the PNCLL tournament held at Curtis Senior High School. The Ducks looked to take back the PNCLL trophy they had lost last season against Simon Fraser and earn an automatic berth to the MCLA national championships in Denver.
Before the Ducks could reach the finals however, they had to earn their spot against University of Washington, a team that had surprised many squads this season. The Ducks had won the regular season matchup 16-9 in Eugene earlier in the year, but the “do or die” atmosphere promised a closer game this time around, especially with the decidedly pro-Husky crowd in attendance. The Huskies proved they could compete with a Top 25 team as the game progressed and it turned into a real classic for the fans.
A young Ducks team came out of the gate strong, led by junior attackman Justin Blackmore who earned the distinction of player of the game for his multiple first half goals. After an early Oregon run that saw the Ducks leading 5-2 and looking to be in complete control, Washington rebounded and came back with a run of their own.
The normally stout Ducks defense simply did not show up in their normal form for most of the night and when UW possessed the ball on offense they were able to take advantage of some botched slide packages. After the early scoring runs by both teams, possession time evened and the Ducks and Huskies traded goals until halftime. In the second half, the Oregon ride caused many problems for the Huskies and gave their defense a break while the Ducks man-down unit stepped up in many key situations.
The Ducks’ ride probably saved them the game as they put in a late goal to make the game 10-9 with about a minute left in the fourth quarter. After the Huskies regained possession with about 30 seconds remaining, they called timeout and set up what they hoped would be the play to send the two teams into overtime.
After working the ball around, UW took a shot from the left wing only to be stopped by sophomore goalie Nick Johnston as time ran out. The Ducks were relieved to have escaped a possible upset by a talented Washington squad and could look towards a rematch with heated rival Simon Fraser to determine the PNCLL champion the next day.
Both Simon Fraser and Oregon viewed Sunday’s game as a must win situation in order to earn a spot at nationals. Although SFU was ranked second in the MCLA polls prior to the game, they needed to win to get to nationals because they had not played enough out of conference games during the season to be eligible for an at large bid. Oregon was ranked eighteenth in the Top 25 polls before the championship and so they needed a win to secure a spot in Denver, although a strong showing held the slight possibility of an at large bid. One could tell that the game was going to be heated as always is the case between SFU and Oregon before the game even started, as some words were exchanged between the two sides during warm-ups.
The game itself did not disappoint, adding another chapter to one of the most storied rivalries in the MCLA. Simon Fraser took an early lead off of man-up opportunities but the Ducks came right back when junior attackman Chad Loescher opened the scoring for Oregon. The game seemed to be almost the complete opposite of the high scoring 16-12 matchup played in the regular season as Simon Fraser led 4-3 at halftime, with only one of their goals scored in settled possession. A Ducks defense that had been a liability the day before regained its normal form and proved time and time again throughout the day that it deserves ranking among the top defenses in the country.
Led by stellar play from Nick Johnston as well as sophomore defenseman Austin Zilis and senior LSM Cole Magnuson, the Ducks felt comfortable heading into the second half that if they could give their offense possession they could come out on top. Coming out of halftime, Simon Fraser scored three times and at the end of the third quarter looked to be in control of the game, 7-3. The Ducks refused to give up on their season however and made a quick four goal run to even the game early in the fourth quarter that had the fans going wild. After the Ducks evened the score, their clears seemed to become a little rushed and gave the majority of possession back to the Clan who finished the game ahead, 11-7. Oregon once again proved they could play with top teams like Simon Fraser but just could not close out the game and were left hoping they would receive a chance to show the nation what a complete sixty minutes from the Ducks really looked like in Denver.
Sunday night saw the Ducks hoping to receive an at large bid to Denver and Monday morning, at 6:52 am PST, they were rewarded for their strong showing against Simon Fraser with a fifteenth seed at nationals. Oregon is set to face BYU Tuesday, May 12 at 4:00 pm MT in the first round of the MCLA tournament.
Senior captain Jon Matusiefsky said of the bid, “This is where we wanted to be all season. I know I speak for the team as a whole when I say we’re very confident in our ability and we’re comfortable with being the underdog. The game against BYU is definitely going to be a fun one to play in and hopefully we can get some momentum going our way to carry us deep into the playoffs.”
See www.oregonlacrosse.org for game times and directions to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
