Senior day for Oregon lacrosse resulted in a tough triple overtime loss as Colorado edged out the Ducks 10-9 today at Papé Field.
Head coach Jen Beck said after today’s loss that the key will be moving on from today and looking towards the tournament.
“Just trying to take care of the ball. I thought that we were very careless with it (the ball),” Beck said. “I really want to make sure that we keep them loose and not tight. We have a great ride ahead of us with the Denver tournament ahead of us. The team is super fired up and ready to go.”
Beck also credited Colorado’s goalie Paige Soenksen, who finished the game with seven saves.
“She is a very good goalie,” Beck said. “I think we didn’t do a very good job of being poised in the moment when we were actually trying to finish the shots and she stepped up and made great saves.”
Oregon was the first to get on the scoreboard with a quick goal from senior Nikki Puszcz assisted by Olivia Pyne.
Colorado was able to answer back three minutes later when Katie Macleay found the back on the net to tie the score at 1-1.
Pyne then stepped up for the Ducks scoring three straight goals to give Oregon a 4-1 lead.
Beck credited Pyne for having a solid game and stepping up on offense as Colorado focused heavily on guarding Oregon’s Shannon Propst, who is often one of the key play-markers for the Ducks.
“She (Olivia) stepped up,” Beck said. “Olivia just found the seam and recognized that today was her day to shine and I thought she did an excellent job.”
However, the Buffs began to pick up momentum as the first half continued with Amelia Brown scoring, followed by Colorado’s Johnna Fusco tallying three-straight goals to give Colorado a 5-4 lead with three minutes left in the first half.
Pyne once again was able to strike for the Ducks and scored with just 12 seconds left before halftime to tie the score at 5-5.
Oregon struggled in the second half to hold on to possession after the draws and finished the game with a total of 22 turnovers.
The Ducks were scoreless for the first 20 minutes of the second half, while Colorado tallied three more goals to take a 8-5 lead.
“They had momentum traveling up the field while we are more of a passing team, they were able to run it a lot,” said senior goalie Caroline Federighi said. “But I felt on defense we handled it well enough. We were able to have a body the majority of time.”
However, the Ducks would eventually make a comeback sparked by junior Devon Frazer’s back-to-back goals to inch Oregon closer.
Sophomore Carly O’Connell scored the tying goal just under seven minutes left of play.
Both teams were unable to score for the reminder of regulation, as the game then headed into overtime with the score at 8-8.
Fusco scored first in overtime to give the Buffs a 9-8 lead, but then O’Connell found Casey Brogan who scored to tie the game up once again.
However, it was Colorado that came up on top scoring in the sudden death overtime after about five minutes of play as Sarah Lautman shot the ball right in in the corner of the net just past Federighi.
“As always, I felt that I should of had that,” Federighi said. “I think it was tough… you have to look at everything… there were so many aspects, and unfortunately she was able to sneak past me.”
Up next for the Ducks is the MPSF conference tournament in Denver, Colorado later this week.
Federighi noted at the end of the game that she is confident the team can move on and push forward.
“I’m confident we can do it (move on),” Federighi said. “Today was so unlucky with what happened today. We had so many nice opportunities and just couldn’t capitalize and didn’t finish and unfortunately that’s going to go to them, but the tournament is a different ball game. It’s one and done and I don’t want to be done… Our team is going to push it as hard as we can.”