By Owen Johnson
EUGENE, OR – Oregon Soccer (4-6-6) travels to Arizona this week, for two games against the Arizona State Sun Devils (7-4-3) and the Arizona Wildcats (6-6-3). The first of these games is this Thursday at 7:00 PM MST, at Arizona State’s Sun Devil Soccer Stadium in Tempe. Then, on Saturday at 1 PM MST, the Ducks have a game at Murphy Field against the aforementioned Wildcats. The Ducks are coming off a draw versus California, who came into the game ranked at 25. With both Arizona teams sitting near the top 5 in the Pacific region, Oregon seeks to impress after a rocky offensive season. With only 3 games remaining in the regular season, teams hope to finish strong in the final matches before the rivalry games.
Defensive Prowess
In both games, the goalkeepers will be at the center of the action- not just the net. A major bright spot for Oregon’s season has been the impressive effort from Leah Freeman, the Junior goalkeeper who has racked up 100 saves to this point in the season. Highly consistent throughout the year, she has kept the pressure off our offense throughout the season. She is just the 3rd player in program history to hit the prestigious 100 save mark. However, she’s got competition. Arizona’s Hope Hisey won goalkeeper of the week in the Pac-12 for the third time this season after shutting out her past three opponents. This matchup will be key for the Arizona game.
Trigger Discipline
One potential area Oregon could improve on is their ability to create shots on goal for their offense. On the season so far, they have had an average of 7.3 shots on goal. This is almost 1/3rd of the opportunities their opponents have had, with opponents having just shy of 21 shots per game on average. While both Arizona teams generally have less opportunities than the Ducks have allowed to this point (14.7 for the Sun Devils and 10.1 for the Wildcats), their ratios are much more balanced. This is a large discrepancy that shows a potential flaw in the Oregon offenses’ ability to create scoring opportunities thus far. This can account for Oregon trending towards low scoring games, usually won on the merit of their impressive defense.
Arizona State Sun Devils Preview
After an impressive early season, Arizona State has backslid with a 1-4-1 record across their last 6 games. This has mainly been a result of low offensive production against strong defenses. Only 4 goals were scored in these last 6 games, and this could be a worry as Oregon has had great success on the defensive side of the field. Arizona State has enjoyed the benefit of home field advantage this season, with only one loss occurring in Tempe thus far. However, the Ducks are no slouches on the road, sitting at an impressive 2-1-3 record outside of Eugene. Look out for the midfield pairing of #8 Alexia Delgado and #14 Eva van Deursen to be leading the charge against Oregon’s stifling backfield defense.
Arizona Wildcats Preview
The Wildcats are sitting at the precipice of the most important games of their season thus far. With their record sitting at exactly .500, they need to win out to have any chance at a postseason. Against Oregon, this will only occur with a decisive win in the midfield. They will look to players like #14 Sami Baytosh, the impressive freshman who currently leads the team in goals scored. Standing in their way of creating this offensive pressure is star defender #6 Chai Cortez, the key player for Oregon’s defensive campaign. Look towards matchups like these to decide this game - perhaps on-field experience will prove crucial in this late season bout.
Final Overview
With the season coming to a close, the unranked Ducks will need to do more than simply win out. They will need to impress in their final three games, for team morale and momentum coming into the offseason. Their opponents down south are better off record-wise, but with the Ducks penchant for road victories, they should be seen as opportunities rather than obstacles. This also presents Freeman with a chance to show out from the net- her personal resume is already highly impressive, and these games could only increase this with her level of play continuing at its current benchmark. She has already broken the all-time record for shutouts in a season for the University of Oregon (18), and as she continues to overtake all-time save leaders, she is a clear bright spot for the team moving into next season.