The Oregon Ducks women’s Soccer Team (5-6, 1-3 Big Ten) came into Sunday’s match looking to respond after dropping their first Big Ten home game to Indiana on Thursday. The Ducks are 1-1 on the road in Big Ten play, losing to Rutgers, and then beating Maryland. On SUnday, the Purdue Boilermakers (5-5-1, 1-3 Big Ten) were in town as the Ducks honored the women in the community with Women in Flight Day.
Less than five minutes into the game, the Ducks had a nice set up, but missed high. That became the theme for the day for the Oregon offense. Purdue took the ball back the other way, only to have its shot saved by goalie Maddy Goldberg, who had three saves in the first half. In the 10th minute, Purdue forward Chiara Singarella sent the ball towards the middle on a corner where her teammate Abigail Roy finished off the goal to make it 1-0 Purdue. The Boilermakers got the ball right back, but Goldberg was there again for the stop.
In the 14th minute, the Ducks set up a corner kick that went up the middle, but the shot missed high again. Purdue had another great scoring opportunity in the 32nd minute when Lexi Fraley
fooled multiple Oregon defenders as she dashed towards the goal, but missed wide right. 10 minutes later, the Ducks had another corner kick set up, but they were overcome by stronger Purdue defenders. The Boilermakers responded immediately and went sprinting down the field. It was Fraley again breaking defenders’ ankles and only Goldberg could stop her. In the final minute of the first half, Purdue had a corner kick set up, but the Oregon defense stood strong with two blocked shots to keep it a one score game going into halftime.
In the second half, Purdue went down the field first. The Oregon defense recorded back-to-back blocks to set up a corner kick, which the Ducks intercepted and went the other way. That was followed by a few minutes of back and forth action near midfield before the Ducks broke away and missed wide right in the 53rd minute. The Boilermakers wasted no time going back the other way to set up a corner kick. Their shot was high and wide, but they got the ball right back and the Ducks stopped them again.
In the 57th minute, Oregon was driving up the sideline and passed across the middle for another great look, but Grace Mensah missed wide right by just an inch. A minute later, Purdue had a great look with a shot from the middle, but Sydney Hennessey of the Ducks saved it with her head to set up a corner, which missed wide right.
Purdue was in another great scoring position in the 65th minute, but it was blocked just before the goal line. This was followed by a few minutes of back-and-forth action on the Oregon side of the field. The Ducks got it across midfield in the 68th minute and had another nice scoring opportunity, but were outran by Purdue defenders.
In the 71st minute, Ariane Haysman Boaler of the Ducks was set up again with a one-on-one matchup with Boilermakers goalie Emily Edwards, who was in the right place at the right time to make the block. 10 minutes after that, Purdue nearly extended their lead with a deep shot from just beyond midfield that bounced off the right post. The Ducks responded with yet another great looking trip down the field, but the shot from the middle missed high. They got the ball right back and took a deep shot towards the corner, just beyond the reach of Lauren Kenny who was set up to finish it off.
Oregon head coach Graeme Abel addressed the team’s inability to finish drives, saying the main issue was, “probably the second phase underneath, you know, putting some good balls into the 18-yard box in terms of that piece and making sure we had a second phase. We spoke about keeping the ball in that part of the field for as long as possible. We felt as though they got out a little bit too easy off of the second ball.”
Abel acknowledged that both teams played a really tight match, but also said, “I felt as though we could have done a bit better of a job in terms of getting layers under the ball, keeping the ball in that part of the field and getting sustained attacks.”
In the 88th minute, the Boilermakers were ready to put the game away with another wide-open shot, but missed off the right post again. They got it back immediately and took another shot but Oregon’s Lexi Lerwick was perfectly placed for the block. The Ducks didn’t get the ball again until there were 30 seconds left. Since they were deep on their own side of the field, they were not able to put another drive together and Purdue held on for the 1-0 victory.
The Ducks return to Pape Field October 10, when they host the Michigan State Spartans to begin their final home stand of the season.