Freshman Alyssa Tobita’s first impression of her current doubles partner, freshman Nia Rose, was less than ideal. It was the women’s tennis team’s first practice of the year and Rose was already late.
“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. Who is this girl on our team? She can’t even make the first practice on time,’” Tobita said, laughing.
With the Oregon club hockey team’s season ending last week, here’s a recap of what happened this season:
Earlier this afternoon Oregon (2-2, 0-0 Pac-12) took on Iowa (4-0, 0-0 Big Ten) for what would be the Ducks’ final game of their homestand before heading to Santa Barbara, California next weekend. The Ducks edged out Iowa 4-3.
Oregon claimed the doubles point, but not without effort. After splitting the first two matches, clinching the point came down to the No. 1 doubles match between Nia Rose/Alyssa Tobita and Iowa’s Annette Dohanics/Shelby Talcott. Originally the Hawkeyes duo was up 5-2 and needed only one more point, but Rose/Tobita rallied a comeback eventually winning the set 7-6.
In the Pac-8 Championship, No. 3 Oregon hockey fell to No. 1 Utah, 5-1. Both teams were evenly matched at 5-on-5 play, but frequent penalties cost the Ducks the opportunity to pull ahead. Of the 47 penalties in the game, 31 of them belonged to Oregon. There were 134 penalty minutes total.
In the second round of the Pac-8 tournament, No. 3 Oregon (13-10, 6-4 Pac-8) faced off against No. 2 USC (13-9-1, 10-5 Pac-8) for a spot in tomorrow’s Pac-8 finals. Even though USC had the higher seed, Oregon got the win and eliminated the Trojans, 4-1. While it was only USC’s first game of the tournament, it was Oregon’s second. The previous night, the Ducks eliminated Cal after a 6-1 victory.
Six minutes and ten seconds into the first period of the Oregon Ducks’ third home game of the season, junior Michael Luke entered the penalty box quieter than usual. He sat down, leaned forward and drew his arm across his chest, cradling his right side.
Engulfed in a snowsuit and padded with his helmet and gloves, a three-year-old, purple-cheeked Danny Cockriel waddled onto ice for the first time at his local rink in Englewood, Colorado. Cockriel was a member of the Learn to Skate program and he, like the other members, fell. A lot.
Every time he hit the ice, he’d look up at his mom and she’d run to the glass shouting, “Danny! Danny! Do you want to sit out?” Every time, his response was to shake his head ‘no.’ Every time, he’d continue on.
The Oregon club hockey team finished their regular season this weekend with two back-to-back games against the Washington State Cougars. Oregon, with triple the number of players on the bench as Washington, took away both games with landslide victories of 12-4 and 15-1.
In its first dual meet of the season, the Oregon women’s tennis team traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada to play the UNLV Lady Rebels. The Ducks dominated the Lady Rebels with a 6-1 win at the Fertitta Tennis Complex, an improvement over their 4-1 loss to them last season.
In their first games of the winter quarter, Oregon club hockey took on the UCLA Bruins in what would prove to be two intensely physical games. Oregon came away with both wins (4-3, 5-3) and effectively broke their five-game losing streak from games prior to winter break.