By Rob Moseley
GoDucks.com
EUGENE, Ore. – Coming into Thursday night, three women’s soccer teams in the country had yet to lose. Now there’s just one, and that lone unbeaten got all it could handle from the Oregon Ducks.
The UO soccer team put on a tremendous display of courage and resolve to open its final homestand of the season, playing No. 5 Michigan State to a 0-0 draw before 491 fans at Papé Field. With Iowa and Utah State both losing Thursday, the Spartans are the lone unbeaten left in the country, at 9-0-5 and 4-0-3 in the Big Ten.
“I definitely think this game was an upset,” UO freshman Carly Cormack said. “We were the underdogs. But we didn’t win; obviously we tied. But I think we made a lot of steps forward.”
Oregon (5-8-1, 1-5-1) fired 10 shots and put two on goal, both by sophomore Lauren Kenny. The Ducks got a shutout in the first career start from sophomore goalkeeper Anna Solomon, filling in for Maddy Goldberg.
“I was definitely nervous,” said Solomon, who made five saves. “I was very excited — confident, but definitely excited. I just needed to keep my composure, and I knew that. … I’m so proud of my team. I’m so proud of the defense, how we played. I wish we could have won, but they’re a really good team, so I’m just proud of how we played.”
How It Happened: Goldberg had to sit out after receiving a red card in Oregon’s loss Saturday at USC. Solomon replaced her in that match and allowed one goal, but she finished with a shutout Thursday despite 19 shots by the Spartans.
“I think Anna’s a No. 1 goalkeeper,” UO coach Graeme Abel said. “We’re fortunate. She’s a No. 1 goalkeeper, and it’s unfortunate she’s been behind Maddy. (But) going into it we didn’t prepare any differently than we would have done if Maddy was in goal.”
The Ducks came out Thursday determined not to be pushed around. They accumulated 15 fouls on the night, never backing down from the physical challenge presented by the Spartans. They also had the best early scoring chance of the match, a shot in the 17th minute that Cormack put off the crossbar.
“The past few games, we didn’t feel that we were playing to our full potential,” Cormack said. “And part of that was just being aggressive and getting first to the ball. So we made a point — obviously this team was really good, ranked fifth in the nation — so we had to bring it. We had to fight, we had to have each other’s back. So that was our mentality going in.”
Solomon made a leaping save to punch a ball over the goal a few minutes after Cormack’s shot. She had another save in the last minute of the first half, keeping the game scoreless at the break.
In the 69th minute, Kenny got off a shot that required a save from Michigan State keeper Kaitlyn Parks. Cloe Chase provided another UO scoring chance off a corner kick in the next minute, and shortly after that Solomon had to make another save as the teams frantically fought for a breakthrough goal.
It wasn’t to be, as the Ducks settled for a tie against what is now the only unbeaten team in the nation. Oregon’s last tie with a top-five team nationally was in 2021, a scoreless draw with then-No. 3 UCLA.
“Love the fight, love the spirit, love the ability to compete in both sides of the 18-yard box,” Abel said. “We keep talking about, it’s in our hands in terms of what we’ve got left for this season. Getting another point on the board’s a good thing, and so we’ve got to now build upon that for Sunday.”
Up Next: The Ducks will celebrate their Senior Day and host Michigan on Sunday (1 p.m., B1G+).
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