The Oregon women’s soccer team has one home game left after losing Friday night’s battle against No. 8 Stanford 2-1 on senior night.
Seniors Achijah Berry and Gabbie Lindeman played the entire game and Berry played a vital role in keeping this game close. The Ducks other senior, Brynne Konkel, suffered a season-ending injury last season that cut her college career short. Konkel is serving as the team’s video coordinator and team manager this year.
However, the Ducks couldn’t get the win for the seniors against the Cardinal at Pape Field. The Cardinal played really physical in this game but the Ducks matched them throughout the night. But after the Ducks were down 1-0, emotions started getting in the way of focus. For junior midfielder Kiyomi Cook, emotions got the best of her as she picked up a yellow card for pushing a kneeling Stanford player to the ground.
“We’ve been working on her emotion a little bit,” head coach Kat Mertz said. “But she gets wrapped up in the emotion of the game and I don’t want to change that, we just want to make sure she does it smart.”
Stanford was lead by redshirt senior Courtney Verloo, who scored twice in the game. The first goal came off a penalty awarded to Stanford, which Verloo kicked to the left and in the back of the net. Verloo, a Tualatin, Ore. native, would score her 8th and 9th goals of the season.
The Ducks battled back after Verloo scored the penalty in the 36th minute, although Oregon didn’t get the ball into the back of the net until the 71st minute. The goal came off a wonderful through ball from Berry from outside the 18-yard box on the nearside. The ball was swung into the box and connected by the head of Kristen Parr. The strong header was Parr’s second goal in as many games.
“I had a little space around me and it came from Berry and that it was my chance to get some glory and finish it for her,” Parr said describing her goal. ”I just happened to be in the right spot.”
But the No. 8 team in the country would battle back after Chioma Ubogagu found Verloo’s chest from outside the box, and after a touch, Verloo’s ball found the back of the net in the 82nd minute.
In a change of scenery, Bri Pugh played midfield against Stanford with Parr and ShayLee Miner. The three have scored 7 of the Ducks 12 goals this season.
“We wanted to find a way to get ShayLee Miner, and Bri and KP (Kristen Parr) on the field at the same time, Mertz said. “And we thought if we dropped Bri in the midfield it actually would give her more space once she did receive the ball.”
The Ducks are now 3-9-3 (1-5-1 in conference play) on the season and look forward to Monday night at home at 7 p.m. against No. 12 California.