Ducks Welcome Saint Mary's For Regular-Season Finale

EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon women's lacrosse team will close out its regular-season schedule this Sunday (noon) at home against Saint Mary's, having already locked up a spot in the MPSF Tournament. The Ducks (8-7, 4-3 MPSF) are locked into the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament, and will try to finish the regular season with an above .500 record both overall and in conference.

Prior to the game, the Ducks will honor their six seniors down on the field. Attacker Rachel Steinberg, midfielders Bella Pyne and Erin Schilmoeller, defenders Kathryn Blumhardt and Annie Longtain and goalie Becca Katzen will all be recognized with their families for their careers as Ducks.

HOW TO FOLLOW
The Ducks' game against Saint Mary's will be streamed live on goducks.com/live, and a link to live stats can be found on the lacrosse schedule of goducks.com or at oregon.statbroadcast.com. Live updates will be provided during the game on Twitter via @OregonWLAX.

CUKAR BREAKS UO ALL-TIME ASSIST RECORD
Only in her third season, junior Cambi Cukar has already broken the UO all-time assists record. With a program-record 46 assists in 2016, Cukar ran her career-total to 82 to pass Kristina Barrett (2009-12) for third. With a conference-best 33 assists this season, Cukar has passes Carly O'Connell (86) and Shannon Propst (114) to become the all-time leader in Oregon history with 115 for her career. With another year of eligibility still under her belt, Cukar is well on her way to shattering the previous record. Cukar broke the record at an astounding rate, doing so in only 50 games compared to 72 for Propst. She is one of only two Ducks in the top 10 to play in fewer than 70 games. Cukar also has 139 career points, putting her in 10th in Oregon history.

WILLIAMS ENJOYING SPECTACULAR SOPHOMORE SEASON
Sophomore attacker Shannon Williams has been a constant offensive threat for the Ducks this season, and is putting together a dynamic sophomore campaign after leading Oregon in goals as a freshman last year. Williams is second in the MPSF and is tied for 27th in the nation with 62 points (4.13 per game), and she is third in the conference and tied for 31st in the nation with 43 goals (2.87 per game), 13 more than her team-leading total from all of last season. Her 43 goals are only four shy of setting a new UO single-season record, while her 62 points are 10 away from setting the top mark in UO single-season history. Williams enjoyed a career night in the Ducks' 17-7 win against Vermont on March 17, scoring a career-best six goals and eight points. The Bel Air, Md., native has recorded three goals or more on eight separate occasions in 15 games this season. Williams is also sixth in the conference in assists with 19 this season.

DUCKS ON THE ATTACK
With Shannon Williams leading the way, the Ducks are proving to be a dangerous team on the offensive end this season with the ability to score quickly and often. Oregon is 51st in the nation in scoring offense with 12.13 goals per game, and 31st in the NCAA with 18.87 points per game. Williams leads the team with 43 goals and 62 points, while senior Bella Pyne and junior Mariah Gatti are tied for second in goals scored with 38 apiece. Pyne is second on the team in points scored with 49. Cambi Cukar leads both the club and the conference and is tied for 13th in the nation with 33 assists to give her 40 points, fourth on the team behind Williams, Pyne and Gatti (41). In total, 11 Ducks have scored goals this season, three have 30 or more and six are in double-digits.

SCOUTING SAINT MARY'S
Saint Mary's (1-11, 0-6 MPSF) will play No. 9 Colorado at home on Friday before finishing up its regular season against the Ducks in Eugene on Sunday. The Gaels are led by junior Jocelyn Lubert, who has paced the team with 27 goals so far this season. Freshman Jillian Dunlap has also been an offensive contributor with 18 goals and a team-high eight assists, and senior Sydney Pinello leads the team with 37 saves. Oregon is looking to stay perfect in the all-time series against the Gaels. The Ducks are 15-0 all-time in the series, and have won the last two match-ups by a combined score of 40-6. Oregon has allowed Saint Mary's to score in double-digits just three times in 15 meetings.

UP NEXT
After closing out the regular season against Saint Mary's, the Ducks will head to Los Angeles, Calif., for the MPSF Tournament (April 27-30). The Ducks are locked into the No. 4 seed in the tournament, and will face off in the first round against the No. 5 seed.

OREGON ACTIVE ON DEFENSE
The Ducks have been active on the defensive end thus far this season in terms of attacking the ball-carrier, as Oregon is 32nd in the nation and fourth in the conference with 10.07 caused turnovers per game and 151 total in 15 games. The Ducks have forced double-digit turnovers in eight different games this season, including a season-high 17 in a win over San Diego State (Feb. 11). Senior Bella Pyne leads the Ducks with 23 caused turnovers, while junior Jill Zubillaga and sophomore Mandi Trostle are tied for second with 17 apiece. Nine different Ducks have forced double-digit turnovers so far this season.

ZUBILLAGA PROVING TO BE AN OFFENSIVE WEAPON
After playing almost exclusively as a defender her first two seasons and even the first five games this season, junior Jill Zubillaga has become a consistent scoring threat for the Ducks on the attack. She scored her first-career goal on March 17 against Vermont, and then erupted two days later at No. 4 Colorado with a four-goal performance. Zubillaga has followed that up with two goals against No. 15 Towson, three against George Mason and one against Virginia, and then added three at Stanford and two at UC Davis. Zubillaga has now scored 16 goals in eight games since moving to the offensive end, and has added three assists as well. Adding the offensive numbers, Zubillaga has become one of the most complete players for the Ducks as she leads the squad in draw controls (43) and is second on the team in caused turnovers (17).

DUCKS SPLIT AT STANFORD AND UC DAVIS
The Ducks came away with a 1-1 record on a road swing at Stanford and UC Davis, clinching their spot in the MPSF Tournament with the win on Easter Sunday in Davis. After squandering a first-half lead at Stanford, the Ducks bounced back and did the same to the Aggies on Sunday with a terrific second-half effort.

April 14 - Stanford 17, Oregon 13
The Ducks controlled the game in the first half after Stanford took an early 2-0 lead. Oregon responded with four unanswered goals to surge ahead, but Stanford rallied back with a 3-1 run to tie the game. The Ducks went on a tear to close the first half, scoring five unanswered goals to take a 10-5 lead into the half. It was all Stanford coming out of the break, as the Cardinal ripped off a 4-0 run within the first four minutes to pull within a goal. Mariah Gatti scored her fourth of the game off an assist by Cambi Cukar to give the Ducks a two-goal cushion, but the Cardinal answered with two of their own to tie the game, 11-11, with 21:40 left in the game. Jill Zubillaga joined Gatti with a hat trick to give the Ducks back the lead, but Stanford controlled the remaining 20 minutes and finished the game on runs of 6-1, 8-2 and 12-3 to win. Gatti finished with a team-high four goals, while Bella Pyne and Zubillaga joined her with hat tricks with three goals apiece. Freshman Julia Bolte was stellar at setting up her teammates, recording a season-high six assists, the most by a Duck this year. Shannon Williams, Cukar and Julia Taylor each scored once for Oregon, and Cukar added one assist.

April 16 - Oregon 10, UC Davis 9
The Ducks came out sluggish in the first half, as UC Davis jumped out to a 4-0 lead and then took a 9-5 lead into halftime. The Ducks took control in the second half, both offensively and defensively. Freshman Julia Bolte opened the second-half scoring with a goal off an assist from Madeline Reece at the 26:43 mark, and then fed senior Bella Pyne three minutes later for a score to pull Oregon within two. With 12:57 to go in the game, Cambi Cukar tied the Oregon record with an assist on Pyne's third goal of the game to make it a one-goal game. Trailing by one with less than 10 minutes left, Mariah Gatti tied the game as Cukar found her for the record-breaking assist with 8:04 remaining. Shannon Williams, the Ducks' leading goal and point-scorer, scored on a free-position shot for what would end up being the game-winning goal. Pyne led all players with three goals, her sixth hat trick of the season, and Williams, Gatti and Jill Zubillaga each finished with two goals. Cukar led the Ducks with three assists to break the program all-time record, and Bolte added a goal and an assist.

KATZEN NAMED MPSF DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK (FEB. 6)
Senior goalie Becca Katzen was rewarded for her strong performance in goal in the Ducks' season-opening 11-8 win over Michigan, earning MPSF Defensive Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career. Katzen was stellar at the start of the game against the Wolverines, making five saves in the first 10 minutes including a pair of free-position saves. Katzen finished with a career-high nine saves on 17 shots on goal(.529), and was solid against nine total free-position shots. The native of Cockeysville, Md., earned her first-career win while helping the Ducks to victory.

KATRINA DOWD TAKES OVER OREGON LACROSSE, BRINGS ON BLOCK AND TUMOLO AS ASSISTANTS
Katrina Dowd was introduced as the Ducks' second head coach in program history on June 15, 2016, coming to Eugene as one of the most established players and coaches in all of women's lacrosse. A prolific goal-scorer during her playing days at Northwestern and with the USA National Team, Dowd is expected to bring a fast and exciting new brand of lacrosse to Oregon. Dowd took over at the helm of the Ducks after spending four seasons as the offensive coordinator and draw specialist coach at North Carolina, helping the Tar Heels to national championships titles in both 2013 and 2016.

"My philosophy is to teach the game with passion and belief," Dowd said at her introductory press conference. "At the core that's about player development and team chemistry. We're going to attract the best student-athletes, provide them a one-of-a-kind student-athlete experience and compete at the highest level, with the ultimate goal of winning national championships."

Dowd filled her coaching staff with familiar faces and impressive resumes, bringing on Becca Block and Michelle Tumolo as assistant coaches. Dowd has played with both Block and Tumolo on the USA National Team, and coached them both as an assistant at Syracuse in 2013 when the two were seniors. Block will coordinate the Ducks' defense, while Tumolo will focus on the offensive side.

LACROSSE TO BECOME PAC-12 SPORT IN 2018
The Pac-12 Conference will add women's lacrosse for the 2018 season as the conference's 12th sponsored women's sport and 23rd overall. Arizona State announced it would add women's lacrosse in 2018, giving the Pac-12 the minimum number to qualify (6) for a conference championship and NCAA tournament automatic-qualifying bid.