Spring Sports Wrap-Up

Some Oregon Spring sports are moving quickly toward either the Pac-12 Conference tournaments, NCAA competitions or otherwise closing out their seasons. Here’s an overview of last week’s action.

Lacrosse

Oregon hosted Arizona State and USC this weekend, and the Ducks finally secured what had been an elusive Pac-12 Conference victory. On Friday, Oregon stormed back from a 6 - 0 second quarter deficit and trailed 11 - 9 after ASU opened the fourth quarter scoring. But the Ducks rallied on two goals from Alyssa Wright and the game-winner by Madysyn Sweeney with just under minutes to play. Oregon outscored ASU 12 - 5 over the last 35 minutes to win 12 - 11. Morgan McCarthy again led the Ducks with 4 goals (giving her 29 on the season) and 2 each from Wright, Sweeney and Gabby Cleveland.

On Sunday, the Ducks faced a much tougher opponent in the USC Trojans. USC is 13 - 3 overall and 8 - 1 in the Conference, but Oregon has given them some tough contests over the last two years. The Ducks made a game of it Sunday, taking an early 1 -0 lead and making it stand up through the first quarter. USC found its footing in the second quarter but Oregon trailed just 3 - 2 at halftime. Two quick goals from the Trojans as the second half opened put Oregon in a deeper hole and USC would go on to lead 7 - 3 after three quarters. The teams played a pretty even final period, but the Ducks couldn’t close the gap and were on the short end at the final whistle, 10 - 5. Cleveland led Oregon with 3 goals, but the key to the game was USC’s holding McCarthy to just one tally.

Oregon travels to the Bay Area for games against Cal on Friday and Stanford on Saturday.

Men’s Golf

Oregon has its best finish in a tournament it didn’t host this week, finishing 2nd overall in a field of 14 teams at the Western Intercollegiate in Santa Cruz, California. Owen Avrit led the Ducks with a tie for 2nd-place overall finish amongst individuals. Avrit carded a 6-under 204 for the 3-days of play, unfortunately recording his worst score in Wednesday’s final round. Avrit’s 3-over-par 73 left his just one stroke behind the tournament winner. Greg Solhaug joined Avrit under par at 208 (-2) in a tie for 6th for the Ducks and Greyson Leach finished at 1-over-par 211. Pepperdine won the tournament title by 9 shots at the Pasatiempo Golf Club.

Oregon has a week off before heading to the Pac-12 Championships, hosted by Stanford on April 28 - 30.

Women’s Golf

The Duck women were off this past week but begin the Pac-12 Championships in Phoenix today.

Beach Volleyball

The Ducks continued a pretty rough ride through their 2023 schedule at the Husky Invitational in Seattle this past weekend. Oregon dropped 2 contests to Boise State by identical scores of 3 - 2 but beat the University of Portland 4 - 1 on Saturday. In their only Pac-12 action in the tournament host Washington dropped the Ducks 5 - 0.

Oregon is now 9 - 22 overall and 0 - 5 in official Pac-12 action. They play Portland again on Thursday at Amazon Park in Eugene and then head to the Pac-12 Championships at Stanford on April 27.

Men’s Tennis

Tennis continued to struggle, facing off against #10 USC and #28 UCLA in Los Angeles this past weekend. The LA schools dominated the action each winning their contest against the Ducks by a 4 - 0 score.

Oregon is now 12 - 11 overall and just 1 - 5 in the Conference. The Ducks finish up their season next weekend at home against the Bay Area schools.

Women’s Tennis

The women welcomed the same LA schools to Eugene for their matches over the weekend, and the results were unfortunately the same. The Ducks fell by identical 4 - 0 scores to #26 USC and #24 UCLA.

The Ducks are 11 - 9 overall and 4 - 6 in the Conference. They will next travel to Ojai, California on April 26 for the Pac-12 Championships.

Track & Field

Oregon split up the team again this past weekend, competing in the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, California and the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California. In the meets, Duck athletes continued their assault on the school record book as well as their own personal best performances. Taylor Chocek posted her personal best and #4 all-time UO score in the Heptathlon at 5,625 points, good for 6th overall. Giuliano Scasso and Vincent Mestler recorded personal bests in the Steeplechase.

On Friday, Anthony Trucks ran a personal best 14.40 seconds in the 110 meter hurdles and J Kai Yamafuji equaled his personal best in the pole vault at 16 feet, 2.75 inches. Jett Kinder unleashed a personal best throw of 223 feet, 11 inches on his last throw in the Javelin, winning the event.

Saturday’s action saw Jorinde Van Klinken win the women’s Discus at 211 feet, 5 inches and Lexi Ellis set a personal best and #3 all-time at Oregon in the Triple Jump with a leap of 44 feet, 7.5 inches. Shelby Moran’s Hammer throw of 216 feet, 11 inches was good for 8th overall and #3 all-time at Oregon. Aaliyah McCormick blazed to a personal best time in the 100 meter hurdles good for 3rd place at the meet and #3 all-time at Oregon.

In Azusa, Klaudia Kazmierska ran 4:11.15 in the 1500 meters, good for #7 all-time at Oregon. On the Men’s side, Scasso set another personal best in the race of 3:52.27.

The Ducks travel to Stanford next weekend for the Payton Jordan Invitational.