A match-up of two unbeaten programs went the way of Oregon as the Ducks downed first-year varsity program Rider 17-9 on Friday afternoon in Lawrenceville, N.J. Oregon, led by alumna and first-year head coach Jessica Drummond, is now off to the best start in school history at 4-0.
Rider, which came into the game 4-0, went toe-to-toe for much of the first 30 minutes, but Oregon began to pull away with goals in the final minute of the first half by Riley Taylor and Jenae Sperling to take a 9-7 halftime lead.
Rider had a chance to squelch the momentum after an Oregon green card to open the second half, but the Broncs turned it over and Haley Cummins cut through the Rider defense to open the second half scoring for the Ducks.
They never stopped scoring. Rider was held without a goal for the first 24 minutes of the second half. Oregon’s scoring streak that began at the end of the first half eventually reached eight straight.
Cummins and Morgan McCarthy each had hat tricks for Oregon and Lauren Rismani had a team-high four points (2g, 2a).
Kylee Garcia, a grad transfer from Division III FDU-Florham who twice scored more than 80 goals in a season, led Rider with five goals, including four in the half – the last of which tied the game 7-7 with 1:18 to go in the opening half. She added two assists and Broncs’ goalie Jamie Kubach made 10 saves.
Drummond was a three-time second team all-league pick during her playing career with the Ducks and helped Oregon to its only NCAA tournament bid after it won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship in 2012.
After spending the last seven years as an assistant coach at Vermont, Drummond had been an instant success with the Ducks, but a big test awaits on Sunday. Rutgers, which will be a Big Ten rival beginning next year for Oregon, hosts the Ducks at noon in a nationally-televised game on the Big Ten Network. Rutgers started the season 4-0 before falling to state rival Princeton on Wednesday.
Trojans Start Eastern Swing with Win
No. 16 USC opened its second East Coast trip of the season with an 11-5 victory over Towson on Friday evening. Claudia Shevitz had four goals for the Trojans (4-1) and Ella Heaney had a team-high five points (2g, 3a). USC goalie Kait Devir made eight saves while allowing just five goals and held Towson scoreless for the final 17-plus minutes in the game.
Towson held early leads of 2-0 and 4-2, but couldn’t get the offense going. Jo Torres made 11 saves for the Tigers (1-3). USC, which beat Army and Villanova on its first road trip this season, will stay in the Baltimore area play at No. 14 Johns Hopkins on Sunday.
Lindenwood Back on Winning Track
Lindenwood bounced back from its first loss of the season with an 18-11 victory over Kent State to improve to 5-1 for the season. Six-foot attacker Logan Eldredge continued to find the back of the net with seven goals. Eldredge now has 28 goals in the Lions first six games of the season.
