Oregon Opens Homestand Against No. 25 Colorado

EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon opens its longest homestand of the 2022 season on Friday with a showdown against No. 25 Colorado at Papé Field.

The Ducks will be looking for their first win over the Buffs and their first win over a ranked opponent since April 8, 2018 (18-11 vs. No. 18 USC). Both teams are coming off tough weeks where they lost to both USC and Arizona State on the road.

Friday's game will be Oregon's Military Appreciation Night. Members of the armed forces, veterans and their families can get discounted tickets to the game at goducks.com/laxmilitary. 

GAME INFO
When: Friday, March 18
Where: Papé Field
Time: 5 p.m.
Watch: Pac-12 Oregon, Mountain
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=399564
 
NUMBERS TO KNOW
23 – Sophomore midfielder Morgan McCarthy ranks 6th in the Pac-12 with 23 draw controls. She grabbed 19 draws as a freshman.
29 – Oregon entered the weekend with 29 assists, tied for second in the Pac-12. The Ducks had 32 assists in all of 2021. 
38 – Defender Logan Gierke started Sunday's game, her 38th career start in 39 games since she has been at Oregon.
91 – The Ducks achieved a season-high with a 91% success rate on clears (20-22)
against Arizona State on Friday.
 
THE DUCKS vs. THE BUFFS
Oregon will be looking for its first win against Colorado, dropping all 11 of the teams' previous matchups. This will be the seventh straight times the Ducks and Buffs have played with Colorado coming in as a ranked team. The last matchup was on March 6, 2020 because both games scheduled in 2021 were canceled due to COVID protocols.
 
DUCKS GROWING UP
Returning starters Nakeeya McCardell and Morgan McCarthy were key players on a young 2021 team that featured 10 freshmen. The class earned a total of 43 starts during the season with nine first-year players seeing the field during the year. Haley Cummins (11 games, 5 starts), Mara Zajac (11 games) and Sydnie Soto (9 games, 5 starts) all earned playing time as key contributors during the season. The now-sophomore class accumulated 40 percent of Oregon's draw controls and 30 percent of the team's caused turnovers last year. Four members of the class (McCarthy, Soto, Cassidy Eckert and Madysyn Sweeney) started at least four games this season with Eckert and Sweeney starting all six contests.