Preview: Oregon Ducks come to the Lou for green and gold battle
The Bears open a three-game homestand tomorrow night at the Lou with the Oregon Ducks coming to town.
The visitors are undefeated at 3-0-2 and just topped Texas 1-0 thanks to an awesome strike from senior midfielder Zoe Hasenauer (#17).
While I enjoy a Longhorn loss as much as the next guy, this performance should be a warning to Baylor. If they let Oregon hang around, they might just steal a win.
This Ducks team has great experience on the field and on the sideline. They return all 11 starters from last year’s team, which was the first Oregon team to finish with a winning record since 2006. Their coach, Graeme Able, also came to the program from the U.S. Women’s National Team,
where he was an assistant for the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup champions.
Abel is by all accounts a top coach, and the turnaround he made at Oregon last year (his first year as the coach) is clear evidence of that. Another solid step forward for the program should be expected through this year.
His squad comes into the year with three preseason all-conference players in the aforementioned Hasenauer plus defender Croix Soto (#11) and keeper Leah Freeman (#1).
Another player to look out for tomorrow night is fifth-year midfielder Chardonnay Curran (#4). This would be her 79th appearance for the Ducks putting her just two appearances away from sole possession of the Oregon record. That’s a lot of game experience and there is an on-field savvy that comes with that.
Despite all of this returning experience, Oregon was only picked to finish ninth in the PAC-12 in their preseason poll. Their early games have also betrayed some of their weaknesses.
After setting a record for goals-against average at 0.69 goals allowed per game last year, the Ducks are allowing 1.2 goals per game so far this year.
They have also fallen behind early in games to San Francisco, Northern Arizona, and UC Santa Barbara. It seems that they may have shifted to a more open style of play so far this year, which has helped them score 14 goals in five games compared to 12 goals in 16 games last year.
However, that openness can put extra stress on the defense. If Baylor plays on the front foot and trusts their backline then they could emphasize that stress of the Ducks. It would be a gamble, but that is the style of play that earned the Bears a great win against North Texas last week.
A couple of other things to keep in mind heading into Sunday night are that the Bears had this past Thursday off, while Oregon has been on the road and played Texas in Austin. Baylor should have more energy than the Ducks.
However, the University of Oregon is a quarter system school, so their players have not had to deal with classes and homework yet. Whether that makes any difference to players on either team, I can’t say.
The Bottom Line: Baylor should be better rested and has shown they can play the style of game that should give the Ducks problems. I think that means a 2-1 win for the Bears, but I haven’t been right yet.