The Oregon Ducks women’s lacrosse team won their third consecutive game on March 9, closing out nonconference play with a 15-1 victory against Kent State at Papé Field. The Ducks, now holding a 6-2 record, will begin Big Ten conference play by hosting Maryland on Saturday.
This recent win marks the second straight game in which Oregon has outscored its opponents by a wide margin, having defeated Delaware State 20-3 earlier in the week. Head coach Jessica Drummond’s team has outscored their last two opponents by a combined total of 35-4.
“Drummond going into today was like, this is our last chance before conference games to show the world who Oregon lacrosse is,” said sophomore midfielder Liv Kozitza, who scored three goals and collected five groundballs. “And I think to have this momentum going into our bigger games this season is super exciting.”
Oregon held an opponent to one goal or less for just the fourth time in program history and the first time since an 18-1 win over Presbyterian in February 2015. Senior midfielder Jadyn Laing said, “Defensively, one goal for them is awesome. We’ve been working all season to get our defense together, working with different man and zone defenses. And I think today, everything really came together.” Francesca Viteritti contributed five saves as goalkeeper.
Eight different Ducks scored during Monday’s game, including hat tricks from Kozitza and Emma Ing. Head coach Drummond said, “It’s nice to have an attack where you can’t just pinpoint one person who’s gonna get the job done. We’ve got a bunch of threats, and whoever steps onto this field for us in the middie and attacking positions, they can all get that job done.” Drummond also highlighted defensive efforts: “The consistent stops on defense was so awesome. I feel like we found our confidence in being able to create those caused turnovers, and to shut out a team for a second half was really exciting.”
Looking ahead to conference play, junior Avery Young expressed her excitement about making her Big Ten debut after missing much of the past two seasons due to injury: “This is my dream; I can’t even say that enough… Especially being injured for the past two seasons, this is the time, and I’m just so excited to play against these really good girls that I’ve been watching my entire life.”
The Ducks will host Maryland on Saturday as they begin their Big Ten schedule.
