Ducks Defeat Sun Devils in Goal Extravaganza

Friday, October 13

Eugene, Ore.

4:00 PM

University of Oregon

7-7-0, 1-5-0

Arizona State

4-8-2, 1-4-1

Arizona State

Oregon

10/13/17 | Women's Soccer

Box Score Oregon-Arizona State Box Score 2017 Season Statistics

Drake Hills

EUGENE, Ore. - Oregon soccer defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils 3-0 on Friday. The Friday-the-13th matchup at Papé Field was filled with goal-scoring opportunities, leaving the fans cheering for a full 90 minutes. After a successful end to their stint of home games, Oregon will go on the road next week to play Stanford and California.

How it Happened: The Ducks took just three minutes to score the first goal in the match. A strong tackle from junior midfielder and captain Sophia Chambers started a counter attack that the Sun Devils couldn't stop.

Chambers played a precise long ball to Marissa Everett, running down the left side. After beating an Arizona State defender to the ball, Everett dribbled her way close to goal and shot but it was saved by Arizona State goalkeeper Megan Delaney. Fortunately, Everett capitalized on the rebound to place the Ducks in the lead, 1-0.

Everett was not finished and added to her goal tally in the 26th minute. After Nicole Seaman played a promising thru ball, splitting two Arizona State defenders, the ball reached Bayley Bruner's feet.

Bruner dribbled to the Sun Devils' goal before passing to Everett at the last second to set up an easy tap-in goal, Everett's fifth this season. The Canyon Lake, Calif. native leads the team in goals scored.

Everett praised Bruner after the match and said the two have great chemistry.

"I know Bayley really well, playing with her," Everett said. "When she's in, we are always in sync and it's nice."

Everett isn't the most outspoken of the Ducks but the striker was not shy when admitting that a hat trick was her objective before the game ended. When asked if a hat trick was the target, she immediately replied, "of course."

"I wanted to get as many as I could," Everett said.

Senior captain Miranda Schulz made it a three-goal lead for the Ducks in the 74th minute. Previously, Schulz missed a tap in after low cross from Mia Costa in the 65th minute, before a screamer from 25 yards out hit the crossbar in the 66th minute.

Schulz got a third chance and at her feet and the captain used her technique to beat a Sun Devil defender. Schulz struck a low laser with her right foot that would slide past Delaney for the goal and the Ducks all congratulated her.

"I owed a goal to my team. I did not care how I felt inside because I needed to score for my teammates, especially my teammate back home - Bri Parsons," Schulz said. "It's just an amazing feeling not thinking about yourself but about all the people behind you. I'm hoping that there's more to come, especially in these next couple of games."

Overall, the Ducks outshot the Sun Devils 23 to 10.

Who Stood Out: Bruner made her second straight start for the Ducks, backing up what she said mid-week as she wanted to be a leader for her team vocally and by example. The Utah native was credited with two assists Friday but also had three shots with two testing the goalkeeper.

"Confidence goes a long way. You could see the confidence grow in the middle of the game," head coach Kat Mertz said. "She was injured earlier this season and now she's back, working to get her fitness back. The longer we get going, the more fitness base she has and the more minutes she'll see."

Another player working back into the team was Schulz, the senior captain. The forward said she and her team had been working extremely hard during training this week and that it finally paid off.

"The fact that we came out on this shows how strong we are and that we're not done yet," Schulz said. "I love this team to death. We worked hard this week. The fact that we won 3-0 means we deserved every one of those goals."

Redshirt junior and captain goalkeeper Halla Hinriksdottir made sure the zero on the scoreboard stayed that way, letting nothing past her through 90 minutes of play. The Iceland international recorded five saves and a fifth clean sheet for the Ducks.

Notable: The devastating wildfires in Northern California have affected thousands of citizens, including their homes, workplaces and schools. The travesty has affected the Oregon community, especially Parsons and Mia Costa.

Parsons and Costa grew up in Santa Rosa, Calif. and Healdsburg, Calif. respectively. The two cities are 20 minutes apart and are included in the territory that has been affected by wildfire.

Parsons was excused from the team this week after the junior received news that her home was burned down by the wildfire. Costa wore her number 22 jersey in Parsons' honor.

A gofundme.com account has been created to help support the Parsons family at https://www.gofundme.com/parsons-family-fire-relief.

Quotable: "It's one game at a time," Mertz said. "Every team is dealing with some confidence and if you can be the first team that strikes, I think you can dictate the rest of the game. That was one of our attacking keys - dictate play.

"It's really a testament to our players and how hard they worked this past week. Everyone across the board was frustrated after the Washington game and the performance of our Ducks. Only a small amount of shots against Washington - wasn't our style. It was definitely nice to get 23 shots today."

Up Next: Oregon Soccer will recover this weekend and prepare for a trip to the Bay Area to face Stanford and California on Oct. 17 and Oct. 22, respectively (Pac-12 Networks).

- goducks.com -