Sophomore Norman Xiong’s steady performance at the Nike Collegiate Invite earned him the top spot in the Portland, Oregon, tournament.

He finished at 13-under par to win over 74 other golfers from around the country. He narrowly beat University of Southern California’s Justin Suh and Stanford’s Brandon Woo, who tied for second with 12-under. Going into the final round, Xiong was two shots behind Woo, but had five birdies on Tuesday to overtake the lead.

This is Xiong’s third career win. This benchmark ties him for third for most wins in program history with Wyndham Clark, Ted Snavely and Eugene Wong. It is also his first ever outright win as he shared the top spot the two previous times.

A short birdie putt for @NormanXiongGolf on No. 16. He started on the back nine today. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/EjjLcFSpNS

— Oregon Men's Golf (@OregonMGolf) October 3, 2017

Xiong had a strong start to the fall season, winning the Rod Myers Invitational in mid-September, but struggled at the Trinity Forest Invitational last week.

As a team, the Ducks finished 1-over par to place 10th out of 15 teams.

Ryan Gronlund finished second for Oregon, shooting a best five-under par in the final round. He ended the tournament tied for 10th with 6-under.

Edwin Yi was next, tying for 38th at 2-over par. He also finished strong, shooting a tournament-best 1-under par on Tuesday.

Kevin Geniza and Donald Kay rounded out the Ducks, placing 73rd and 74th, respectively. Geniza finished at 21-over and Kay shot 22-over.

The Ducks now have a few weeks for prepare before heading to Atlanta, Georgia, for the East Lake Cup on October 30.

Follow Kylee O’Connor on Twitter @kyleethemightee

The post Norman Xiong wins second tournament of the season appeared first on Emerald Media.

Oregon’s 45-24 win on Saturday over Cal may look great on paper, but the victory came with some losses. Six injuries and one ejection to key players plagued the Ducks throughout the game and may have cost them more than if they had lost the game itself.

The injuries included quarterback Justin Herbert, running back Royce Freeman and wide receiver Dillon Mitchell.

When head coach Willie Taggart sat down and addressed the media post-game, the first thing he said was, “I could ask this question.”

The ensuing question, about the status of Herbert, was answered with, “There’s no updates right now.”

“I asked [Herbert] if he was OK,” said Taggart. “He said, ‘Yeah,’ but that’s what Justin always says.”

Herbert suffered what reports say to be a broken collarbone during his first quarter touchdown run. No matter what the circumstances, it’s always “next man up mentality.”

“You can’t really miss a beat, especially in such a close game,” center Jake Hanson said. ” … It seemed like everybody was going down, at least at some point.”

Taylor Alie entered the game after Herbert went down, but after going 9-for-13 for 41 yards and an interception, he too left the field injured. Coach Taggart then decided to put in freshman Braxton Burmeister and burn his potential redshirt year. But if Burmeister ends up being the guy going forward, running back Kani Benoit thinks that he’s ready and that the offense has enough weapons to help him succeed.

“Braxton has been with us for a while now,” Benoit said. “He knows how our offense runs. Out there he just needs to go and make the plays. Our receivers and running backs will carry him in that way and I think he’s pretty confident in himself and in his talent.”

Benoit replaced standout running back Royce Freeman after he injured what seemed to be his shoulder during the first quarter. When Taggart asked Freeman how he was doing after the game, Freeman responded, “‘I’ll be alright coach, I did this before. I’ll be fine.” Freeman was burdened with ongoing injuries throughout the 2016-17 season.

“If anyone drops, we’re going to pick up the slack,” Benoit said. “That’s what happened tonight and [Freeman] has full trust in us.”

These injuries hurt the already lacking depth of the Oregon offense; however, Taggart said, “If there was any position that has depth, it would be running backs.” After running for negative one yards in one attempt against Arizona State, Benoit ran for 141 yards and two touchdowns following Freeman’s departure to the locker room.

“Guys go down and we’re not going to put their heads down or anything. The next guy steps up,” Taggart said. “We always talk about that with our guys. You’ve gotta be ready, you never know when the opportunity is going to come.”

Going into the game, the Ducks were already missing receiver Charles Nelson and tight end Jacob Breeland. Now, with these additional injuries, the next man up will have a chance to “do something” against Washington State next week.

“What a great opportunity. When everybody’s out, you’ve got a chance to go out there and do something, and our guys did it,” Taggart said. 

Follow Kylee O’Connor on Twitter @kyleethemightee

The post It’s truly “next man up” for the Ducks now appeared first on Emerald Media.

The Oregon Ducks (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12) took down the California Golden Bears (3-2, 0-2) 45-24.

Despite losing Justin Herbert, Royce Freeman, Dillon Mitchell, Kaulana Apelu, Jake Pisarcik and Taylor Alie due to injuries and Tyree Robinson after ejection, the Ducks were able to pull out a win against the Golden Bears.

Key plays

— After holding Cal to a three-and-out during the first drive of the second half,  Kani Benoit’s scored a 1-yard rushing touchdown. It took the Ducks 13 plays and 73 yards.

— It tool Cal just one play to respond to Benoit’s touchdown. Ross Bowers connected with Kanawai Noa on a 75-yard touchdown pass.

– The Golden Bears narrowed the deficit to one possession with a 36-yard field goal with 10:44 remaining in the game.

– Kani Benoit found the gap to take it 68 yards for a touchdown. It took the Ducks just three plays in 53 seconds.

– Taylor Alie goes down and freshman Braxton Burmeister takes his place. He hands off to Tony Brooks-James for a 5-yard touchdown run. Ducks up 38-17.

Oregon passing 

Justin Herbert — 7-of-8 for 86 yards and one touchdown

Taylor Alie – 9-of-13 for 41 yards and one interception

Braxton Burmeister — 1-of-1 for 4 yards

Oregon rushing

Royce Freeman — six attempts for 51 yards

Kani Benoit – 18 attempts for 138 yards and two touchdowns

Tony Brooks-James – 16 attempts for 76 yards and one touchdown

Herbert – one attempt for seven yards and one touchdown

Darrian Felix — five attempts for 27 yards and one touchdown

Oregon receiving

Brenden Schooler — one reception for 37 yards and one touchdown

Tony Brooks-James — four receptions for 21 yards

Taj Griffin — three receptions for 11 yards

Cal passing

Ross Bowers — 23-of-41 for 255 yards and three touchdowns

Cal rushing

Patrick Laird — 11 attempts for 28 yards

Cal receiving

Jordan Veasy — three receptions for 37 yards and one touchdown

Kanawai Noa – seven receptions for 126 yards

Follow Kylee O’Connor on Twitter @kyleethemightee

The post Rapid Reaction: Despite injuries, the Ducks hold on to win 45-24 appeared first on Emerald Media.

The Oregon men’s golf team wrapped up the Trinity Forest Invitational on Tuesday, finishing in eighth place overall in Dallas.

The Ducks were 8-over par after the three-day event, snapping their streak of 15-straight top-five team finishes. Florida topped the other 12 schools competing, shooting 17-under.

Ryan Gronlund was the top finisher for the Ducks. He shot 2-under par to place 10th individually. He had a best 3-under par during Monday’s round.

Edwin Yi was not far behind at 11th overall. He was tied for third after Monday, but shot a 3-over, his worst score of the weekend, on Tuesday. He finished the tournament at 1-under par.

After a strong showing at the Rod Myers Invitational on Sept. 16, sophomore Norman Xiong struggled, finishing in a tie for 42nd. On Tuesday, he finished with an even par-71, but it only improved his place by ten spots after shooting 4-over par on Monday.

Donald Kay finished next for Oregon. He had a strong day one, shooting a 69 on Sunday and sitting tied for 15th place after day two; however, he fell to 49th after shooting 7-over par to wrap up the tournament.

Sam Foust tied for 75th at 19-over, finishing up the Ducks’ scoring. Kymer Li tied for 73rd at 17-over but competed as an individual. It was Li’s first collegiate tournament.

Up next, the Ducks will compete close to home as they head to Portland for the Nike Collegiate Invitational beginning on Oct. 1.

Follow Kylee O’Connor on Twitter @kyleethemightee

The post Men’s golf ends streak, places eighth at Trinity Forest Invite appeared first on Emerald Media.

The Oregon football team “responded well” during Sunday’s practice following the 37-35 loss to Arizona State on Saturday.

Oregon rallied against the Sun Devils after a bad first half to lead by one point with 6:41 to go, but Arizona State drove downfield and made a 41-yard field goal to seal the victory in Tempe, AZ. This is the Sun Devils’ first win over the Ducks since 2004 and Willie Taggart’s first loss as coach of the Ducks.

During practice Sunday, Taggart was watching to see how his players would perform following the game.

“I thought our guys responded really well,” Taggart said. “I thought we were sharp at practice yesterday and had energy out there. I was looking to see how our guys were going to respond, and they were locked in. Execution was big time, which we needed it to be… They’ve got the right mind frame and they understand what it’s going to take for us to move forward.”

The Ducks were described as a “first half team” throughout the beginning of the season, scoring 126 points in the first half alone through the first three games. On Saturday, that wasn’t the case.

“We had a lot of mistakes in that game, especially on third downs where we couldn’t convert,” Taggart said. “In games before, we were converting on third downs. We had penalties. We had dropped balls, early snaps — we had a lot of things that killed us… We can’t have that many penalties or dropped balls and expect to win those games.”

In the Ducks’ previous three games, they had nearly a 54 percent third down conversion rating. Against the Sun Devils, they were 1-for-11 on third downs and added 14 penalties for 99 yards.

Taggart also attributed the lack of energy on the sideline to the loss. It “wasn’t what it has been in the past,” he said. “I put that on me. I didn’t put as much emphasis on that in the week like I have been in prior weeks. Our football team is not to the stage when they do it all the time. We have to continue to stress the message and we need to have energy on the sideline the entire game.”

Despite the loss, Taggart thinks that it will motivate his players going forward.

“Everyone takes credit when we win and I think when we lose, we all should take credit for that loss,” Taggart said. “Our guys showed that the other night. Losing sucks and when the guys feel that way, you get excited because you know they’re going to go out and work and see to it that those things don’t happen again.”

Follow Kylee O’Connor on Twitter @kyleethemightee

The post Ducks “locked in” during Sunday practice following ASU loss appeared first on Emerald Media.

Sophomore Norman Xiong tied for first to lead Oregon men’s golf to a fourth place finish in the Rod Myers Invitational at Duke University Golf Club on Sunday.

Xiong shot 12-under par over the two-day tournament to share the individual title with Wake Forest’s Will Zalatoris. The 2017 NCAA Men’s Golf National Championship runner-ups shot 2-over par to fall 19 shots behind the tournament champions, Wake Forest. This was the Ducks’ first tournament of the season.

Xiong started out day one leading by three shots, shooting 69 and 67 and finished with a 71 in Durham, North Carolina. His score of 12-under was his lowest score to par in a single tournament. He bested his 11-under finish at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate in February.

Junior Sam Foust scored 70, which included birdies on all four of the par fives to lead the Ducks over the final round. Foust finished in 21st to tie as the second-best Duck.

Redshirt junior Ryan Gronlund was tied for 11th after day one, but fell to 21st to tie Foust after shooting 3-over par in the final round. Edwin Yi tied for 24th and shot a one-under par in the second round. Kevin Geniza finished tied for 37th, shooting at 6-over par, and freshman Thomas Mulligan tied for 65th in his collegiate debut.

The Ducks’ next tournament will be the Trinity Forest Invitational in Dallas, Texas, on Sunday, September 24 at the Trinity Forest Golf Club.

Follow Kylee O’Connor on Twitter @kyleethemightee

The post Norman Xiong wins men’s golf opener, Ducks finish fourth appeared first on Emerald Media.

In 2016, former Oregon tight end Johnny Mundt was awarded the Dudley Randolph Clarke Memorial Award for the team’s most improved player. Now, recently signed to the Los Angeles Rams’ practice squad, Mundt looks to improve even more and eventually make the 53-man roster – again.

During the first week of September, Mundt made the Rams’ 53-man roster. But a late trade for Washington Redskins’ tight end Derek Carrier forced the he Rams to waive Mundt the very next day.

Mundt’s path to the practice squad has not been an easy one. When he attended the Rams’ rookie minicamp in May, he broke his ankle on the first day. From there, he thought his dreams of playing in the NFL might be over before they began.

“It was extremely hard,” Mundt said. “When it initially happened, I didn’t even know what to think. I was afraid that they were going to release me then and there.”

Mundt was able to do physical therapy with the Rams’ trainers, as well as learn the offense and go to team meetings during Organized Team Activities, also known as OTAs. That, he said, contributed to his successful return. Mundt was cleared to play in the final preseason game of the year and made the game count, scoring an 18-yard touchdown.

The NFL is home to the top 1,696 football players in the world and only 1.5 percent of college athletes make it to the NFL. For now, Mundt must prove himself to make that roster spot, but Mundt believes he’s just getting started.

“I’m fired up,” Mundt said. “I get to go against the first defense. So if I’m making plays on the practice squad all the coaches are seeing it, I’m putting good stuff on film. I’m still developing as a tight end, I feel like I have my best football ahead of me.”

Other Ducks in the mix:

Pharaoh Brown is another former Oregon tight end who attended the Raiders’ training camp. After a devastating injury against Utah in November 2014, he redshirted the 2015 season and returned last year for a successful end to his college career. He did not survive the final Oakland roster cuts and was released, later signed to the practice squad.

Marcus Mariota continues to improve with the Tennessee Titans after an impressive 9-7 record last year. The addition of Corey Davis (drafted No. 5 overall in 2017) and Eric Decker (signed to a one-year deal in May) will offer him new targets downfield. That, accompanied with DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry in the backfield, offers potential for this rising offense.

Hroniss Grasu is listed as the back-up center for the Chicago Bears. Grasu seemingly captured the starting role during training camp last year, but tore his ACL in August 2016. Since then, Grasu has had to go through physical therapy and fight for a starting role. While he was rehabilitating, Cody Whitehair impressed the coaches and has since claimed that top position. Grasu reunited with Mariota, his former teammate, on August 28, in the Chicago Bears’ preseason game against the Titans.

Despite drafting Stanford star Christian McCaffrey No. 8 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft, Jonathan Stewart continues to be the starting running back for the Carolina Panthers. In the first game of the regular season, Stewart rushed for 65 yards on 18 attempts, but McCaffrey wasn’t far behind with 47 yards on 13 attempts. McCaffrey, a dual-threat in college, also had 38 yards on five receptions, compared to Stewart’s 17 yards on 2 receptions.

Follow Kylee O’Connor on Twitter @kyleethemightee

The post Catching-up with Johnny Mundt and other Ducks in the NFL appeared first on Emerald Media.

— Oregon men’s basketball standouts Chris Boucher, Jordan Bell, Tyler Dorsey and Dillon Brooks led the team to its recent Final Four run. With all of them declaring for the NBA, as well as being invited to the combine, Dana Altman had his work cut out to fill those scholarship spots for next year. The depleted roster got a boost for its 2017-18 season when 5-star power forward Miles Norris committed to the Ducks on Wednesday. Just over a week before, on May 2, transfer guard Elijah Brown also committed to Oregon, as well. This week the Ducks also hosted a prospective recruit, Brian Bowen.

— The No. 3 Oregon softball team took down Stanford on Thursday, 9-2. The Ducks have won eight-consecutive games to bring their record to 45-6.

—  The Oregon baseball team fell to the Portland Pilots, 3-2, on Tuesday. Up next, the Ducks head into the Civil War series beginning on Thursday.

— Oregon track and field head into the Pac-12 Championships on Saturday at Hayward Field. Thrower Ryan Hunter-Simms recently had a breakthrough while at the Penn Relays, throwing the discus 194 feet, 9 inches. The throw was a personal best of over 11 feet. The men’s team is seeking its 10th straight title, while the women’s team is seeking its ninth straight.

— The Oregon women’s golf team finished third at regionals on Wednesday, to advance to the NCAA Championships. Reedsport High School graduate Monica Vaughn helped lead the Ducks to the NCAA birth.

Follow Kylee O’Connor on Twitter @kyleethemightee

The post Quick Hits: The Oregon men’s basketball team signs top prospects appeared first on Emerald Media.

The Oregon women’s lacrosse team wrapped up its season with a loss against San Diego State in the first round of the MPSF Tournament on Thursday, ending with a 9-8 record under first year head coach Katrina Dowd.

After being hired in June, Dowd said that her ultimate goal was winning a national championship. Although she didn’t accomplish that this year, she made many strides forward throughout 2016-17 campaign that can help inch her team towards that goal.

The Ducks’ ended its season with the same record as last year; however, unlike 2016, this year the Ducks took down some all-time records on the offensive side of the ball.

Attacker Cambi Cukar rounded out her junior season with an MPSF-leading 42 assists and broke the Oregon career all-time assists record on April 16 against UC Davis. She ended the year with 124 total assists, and still has next year’s eligibility remaining.

Oregon attacker Cambi Cukar (22) carries the ball past a Denver player. The Oregon Ducks play the Denver Pioneers at Papé Field in Eugene, Oregon on Friday, April 22, 2016. (Adam Eberhardt/Emerald)

“The most amazing thing is that she’s done it in her junior season,” Dowd said. “That’s pretty incredible to know that she still has a whole season left to kind of build her own record.”

Cukar tallied 36 assists as a freshman, 46 as a junior and 42 this season. Next year, Cukar says that her goal is to get more assists than this past year.

“My goal every year is to improve. … I didn’t think about [the record] every individual game, but it was a goal of mine to be able to break it as a junior.”

Attacker Shannon Williams broke another record for Oregon in her second year as a Duck. On April 23, against Saint Mary’s, Williams set the single-season goals record with 51 total goals. She added another record to her resume against San Diego State University, when she set the Oregon single-season points record with 72.

“She’s hungry,” Dowd said. “She’s an exciting player and she leaves it on the field.”

Both Cukar and Williams will return for the Ducks next year, as well as about half of the rest of the normal starters.

Shannon Williams (36) tries to look for an open goal. The University of Oregon Women’s Lacrosse team hosted the Fresno State Bulldogs at Papé Field on March 13, 2016. (Samuel Marshall/Emerald)

There is one significant change to come for Oregon next year as they move from the MPSF to the Pac-12. The conference is adding women’s lacrosse for the 2017-18 season after announcing the addition of Arizona State’s women’s lacrosse program last year. The Pac-12 will now field six teams, the minimum number to qualify for a conference championship and a NCAA tournament automatic bid.

The Ducks have a lot of work to do in hopes of receiving that automatic bid, especially with back-to-back MPSP tournament champions USC returning half of its starting lineup.

“Clearly we still have a lot of room to grow and get better each day but it’s exciting,” Williams said after playing USC in April.

Follow Kylee O’Connor on Twitter @kyleethemightee  

The post The Oregon lacrosse team’s season has ended, but not without a few steps forward appeared first on Emerald Media.

The Oregon women’s lacrosse team wrapped up its season with an 18-13 loss against San Diego State on Thursday in the first round of the MPSF Tournament.

Head coach Katrina Dowd finishes up her first season with a 9-8 (5-3 MPSF) record.

The Ducks were ranked No. 4 going into the tournament, but struggled early against No. 5 seed San Diego State. The Aztecs scored two goals right out of the gate, but Oregon was quick to respond, scoring three-straight to take the lead. That would be the Ducks’ only lead all game. Those goals were scored by Cambi Cukar (2) and Shannon Williams.

San Diego State took the momentum right back, scoring four more unanswered goals over the course of three minutes to take over, 6-3. Williams and Cukar would each put another goal in the back of the net before halftime, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with San Diego State who scored five more to lead 11-5 after the first period.

The Ducks came out strong at the beginning of the second half, going on a 5-1 run to narrow the Aztec’s lead to two with 17:43 remaining in the game.

With the Ducks gaining momentum, San Diego State pushed on the gas pedal to score five unanswered goals and lead 17-10 with less than nine minutes to play.

Oregon tried to fight back, outscoring the Aztecs 3-1 in the final minutes of the game, but ultimately fell 18-13 in Los Angeles, California.

Cukar led the Ducks with a lifetime best eight points (five goals and three assists). Not far behind was Shannon Williams who scored four.

Williams was selected as an All-MPSF first-team attacker and also also broke the Oregon single-season record for goals with 51. After tallying four points against the Aztecs, she also added the Oregon single-season record for points to her resume.

After her three assists against San Diego State, Cukar tallies a total of 42 assists to lead the MPSF. She also is the Oregon all-time leader in career assists with 124.

Follow Kylee O’Connor on Twitter @kyleethemightee  

The post Oregon lacrosse falls to San Diego State in final game of season appeared first on Emerald Media.