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Rudolph Scores Four as No. 5 UC-Santa Cruz Slugs No. 6 Oregon 12-8 in National Collegiate Club Third Place Game
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Laura Rudolph (So., Carlsbad, Calif.) scored four times to lead No. 5 University of California-Santa Cruz to a 12-8 victory over No. 6 University of Oregon in the third place game of the 2010 Women's National Collegiate Club Championship at the University of Arizona.
The victory guarantees the Sierra Pacific Division will hold the No. 3 spot at next year's Women's National Collegiate Club Championship, while the Northwest Division will receive the No. 4 position.
The game was a story of halves as
UC-Santa Cruz put 10 shots on Oregon goalie Jessica Kragt
(Sr., Beaverton, Ore.) during the first half with seven
goals, before ripping off 15 shots-on-goal in the second half with
five markers.
Oregon led twice in the game opening up margins of 1-0 (6:46) and 3-1 (5:41) in the first period before the Banana Slugs went on a 6-1 scoring run through the remainder of the first half to take a 7-4 lead and never look back.
Leading 7-5 following a tally by Hannah Jarman-Miller (So., Beaverton, Ore.) to pull the Ducks to within two with 5:26 left in the third period, Santa Cruz exploded for tallies by Mollie Chadwick (Jr., Mission Beach, Calif.) and Mollie Harary (So., Oxnard, Calif.) with 4:04 and 1:59 showing on the clock to give the Banana Slugs a 9-5 lead through 21 minutes of play.
Oregon attempted to rally back as Beth Gordon (Jr., Walnut Creek, Calif.) racked up a man-up goal at 3:00 and Hilary Wilcox (So., Portland, Ore.) netted an even-strength score at 2:36 of the fourth period to move the Ducks to within 10-6.
The run continued as Gordon pumped in her second marker in less than 70 seconds with another tally at 1:45, but Rudolph found the cage with man-up shot with 1:18 to go and Nila Ward (Sr., Santa Monica, Calif.) scored with 17 seconds left in regulation to give the Slugs a four-goal victory.
In cage, Rachel McCracken (So., Walnut Creek, Calif.) earned the win with 13 saves, while Kragt stopped eight scoring tries for the Ducks.
The placement continues a string of top four finishes by Oregon as the Ducks placed third (2009) and second (2008) the past two seasons after earning the fourth (2001), fifth (2007), eighth (2005), 10th (2002) and 13th (2006) spots in their previous National Collegiate Club Championship appearances.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -- | Final | |
| No. 5 Unviersity of California-Santa Cruz | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | -- | 11 |
| No. 6 University of Oregon | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -- | 8 |
Oregon Goals: Beth Gordon (3); Lizzy Flower (2); Hannah Jarman-Miller; Katie Peront; Hilary Wilcox
UCSC Goals: Laura Rudolph (4); Nila Ward (3); Mollie Harary; Mollie Chadwick; Kelly Gentry; Val Lew
Saves: Oregon - Jessica Kragt (8) ; UCSC - Rachel McCracken (13)
Exclusions: Oregon - 6 ; UCSC - 5
Advantage Opportunities: Oregon - 1-for-5 ; UCSC - 2-for-6
Sprints: Oregon - 3-for-4 ; UCSC - 1-for-4
