The Arizona State Sun Devils brought down Ducks at Papé Field on Sunday, defeating Oregon 2-1 in a conference nailbiter

Oregon took command of the game early when sophomore midfielder Ryann Davie scored her first career goal in the second minute. The Ducks were aggressive from the start, but seceded this intensity to their opponent following Davie’s goal. In the 39th minute, Arizona State’s co-leader in goals scored, forward Cali Farquharson propelled the equalizer. The Sun Devils would not look back from that point forward.

Oregon’s soccer squad entered the day with a 7-7-2 record, while Arizona State stood at 6-8-2 overall. Their similar records and Pac-12 conference standing were good indicators for how this game would play out. Evenly matched, Oregon and Arizona State appeared to be headed towards a 1-1 stalemate before the guests from Tempe took advantage of a late scoring opportunity.

ASU junior defender Kaitlyn Pavlovich scored the winning goal with six minutes remaining in the game. With little time on the clock and stamina running low, Oregon could not respond. The Pavlovich shot was not kicked with power, but was precisely placed just beyond the reach of sophomore goalkeeper Abby Steele.

“It was a toe-poke off her foot and I couldn’t really anticipate it,” said Steele.

Sun Devils strikers kept the Oregon enforcer busy for 90 minutes. Steele prevented nine goals while standing unwaveringly between the posts—protecting the goal from ASU’s persistent barrage of dangerous shot attempts.

Both teams had several opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net. But for Oregon, the ball crossed the goal line one less time than it did for the opponent. Forward Bri Pugh came close to adding to her second best team season assist total on many occasions throughout the game. The sophomore played with energy for the entirety of the match and exited Papé Field feeling robbed of a victory.

“I think we fought really hard and played really hard,” said Pugh. “We had a lot of chances and I think we outplayed them and it was just unlucky.”

Young and inexperienced, the Ducks were disappointed, but not discouraged after losing the close match. Players and head coach Tara Erikson realize this was the type of game that could have ended in either team’s favor.

Erikson was pleased with her team’s performance against conference competition, despite losing. She admired the Ducks’ strong play off the bench and determination to fight from start to finish.

“There were no tactical changes that needed to be made,” said Erikson. “I thought we played well and the kids that stepped in did a great job.”

Oregon faced adversity before whistles signaled kickoff. Team scoring leader, forward Kristen Parrwas forced to sit out due to a violation of team rules. The infraction only applied to this game and the freshman phenom will return to the starting lineup when the Ducks face Washington State and the University of Washington next weekend.

Steele recognizes adjustments will need to be made in order to prepare for the final games of fall. The goalkeeper noticed a collective failure to execute when reacting to opponents’ speed.

“They were very mobile,” Steele said. “Their forwards kept making crossing runs through our defense and we were having trouble keeping up with them.”

The Ducks are looking forward to playing three more games this season. While a National Title is out of reach for Oregon soccer this year, conference bragging rights and a Civil War title remain up for grabs.

Fans clad in green and yellow and orange and black will file into the stands at Papé Field on November 2 to watch the Ducks return home and take on their rivals from Corvallis. Oregon plans to refocus and approach practice this week with a clean slate.

“We’re going to have to have short-term memory going into this next week because we go on the road to Washington State and Washington,” said Erickson. “We have to build from the positives of this game, but obviously look forward to a win rather than coming out on the losing end.”