It began as one of the best starts in program history but ended in a culmination of missed opportunities and costly mistakes that led to a season-ending defeat.

The Oregon women’s soccer team fell 1-0 to the Oregon State Beavers in front of a season-high home crowd of 736 on Friday, ending the Ducks’ season at 8-10-2 (2-8-1 Pac-12).

The Ducks had many quality shooting opportunities scattered throughout the senior night match, but Oregon’s chances of making the NCAA tournament began to diminish after Oregon State’s Emma Jones scored in the 81st minute.

Jones’ shot was driven on the ground and manageable for Oregon freshman goalkeeper Katelyn Carter. After initially stopping the shot, Carter lost control and it rolled by her into the back of the net.

With less than 10 minutes remaining, Oregon was unable to fight back and qualify for the NCAA tournament.

“We definitely had some chances,” head coach Kat Mertz said. “It was a bit of a heartbreaking game for us. We were fighting to get a chance into the tournament. Of course, it’s the Civil War — a lot of emotion, senior day, trying to break .500. But Oregon State did well, they capitalized on that missed cue there, and then unfortunately, we gave up a goal.”

The Ducks celebrated seniors Maryn Beutler, Lauren Holden, Marlo Sweatman, Shaylee Minor and Ashlee Schulz prior to kickoff.

Despite losing many key athletes to graduation, Mertz is happy with the mentality that the seniors have instilled in the underclassmen.

“I think that the seniors really passed on our willingness to believe in the program and the hard work that it takes to play in the Pac-12,” Mertz said. “The Pac-12 is a beast, you know, every game is a championship game and so I think watching and learning from the seniors over the course of these three years, four years — they are really going to be able to take this momentum going into next fall in a sense that the revolution doesn’t stop, it continues.”

Despite losing Beutler, Sweatman and Schulz, who all had important starting roles, Mertz is confident in her depth going forward.

“We’ve got a good class coming in,” Mertz said. “We have our freshman, Jayne [Lydiatt] coming off the bench there. She’s going to be a piece for us next year, and Sofia [Chambers]. … I think we’ve got some good players, some youth that are coming in and are excited to be a part of our family.”

With the 2016 season now a thing of the past, the Ducks look to recover and revamp for the 2017 season, as the “revolution” continues.

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— The Oregon Ducks football team won its first Pac-12 game of the season on Saturday, defeating Arizona State 54-35. Freshman quarterback Justin Herbert tied Bill Musgrave for the most passing yards in school history with 489 yards.

— Oregon Distance phenom Edward Cheserek won a record fourth-straight Pac-12 cross country championship in Tucson, Arizona on Friday. He won the 8,000-meter race in a time of 23 minutes, 58.9 seconds. He led the Oregon men to a fourth place finish and the women’s team finished in fourth, as well.

— Oregon women’s soccer tied Washington State 1-1 on Sunday and now must beat the Beavers on Friday to have a chance for a spot in the postseason tournament.

— As the Oregon men’s basketball season draws closer, fans anxiously await the return of sophomore standout Tyler Dorsey. Here’s Emerald reporter Gus Morris on why Dorsey is destined for a breakout season. The hyped Oregon team has also been ranked fifth in the preseason AP top 25 poll.

— The No. 20 Oregon women’s volleyball team defeated Arizona State in four sets on Sunday at Matthew Knight Arena. This brings the Ducks’ record to 15-6 overall and tied for third in the Pac-12.

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Charles Nelson has been one of the highlights of the Oregon football roster since he first joined the team in 2014, but with his more centralized role on offense this season, he hasn’t made all the significant strides many expected.

Last season, he made a transition to the secondary to help Oregon’s struggling defense. He played safety, slot receiver and was the Ducks’ leading kick returner. 

Going into this season, Nelson was relieved to be able to dismiss his defensive role and focus only on the offensive side of the ball.

“It’s great on my end because I get to focus on one position and be more comfortable at one position,” Nelson said prior to the 2016 season. “I’m not focused on defense, offense and all this other stuff going on. I get to key in on one thing.”

With all of his focus on offense, this season has the potential to be his breakout year. While Nelson has been the decently productive player that he’s always been, when asked if he is happy with his progression this year, he said, “not at all.”

Early in the season, Nelson was taking nearly all the kickoff and punt return reps, but as of late his special teams role has decreased.

“Charles had some issues with securing the ball early on, of course, and just a lot of factors go into those things,” Oregon special teams coordinator Tom Osborne said.

Health and the number of reps that the athletes take are other factors that go into deciding who takes those returns, Osborne said.

Against Cal, Nelson was temporarily injured but made his return to the field shortly after. He averaged 3.83 kickoff returns throughout the first six games and has returned five punts this season, but did not take a single return all game against the Golden Bears.

Despite that brief injury in the third quarter, Nelson ended up having one of his best games of the season. He had seven receptions for 84 yards and two touchdowns. Those were his first two touchdowns of the season, apart from his score on a kickoff return against Washington State.

Although he is an “explosive guy,” Osborne attributes a lot of Nelson’s special teams success to his teammates.

“It means that the other 10 guys are doing a good job of blocking,” Osborne said. “I mean he’s a great player, but like the kick return he had against Washington State, all he did was run down the sideline because they blocked it so good.”

Solely focusing on offense has taken a lot of stress off Nelson’s shoulders and allowed Oregon to utilize him in multiple ways offensively.

“I think [only playing offense has] enabled him to be more confident in certainly offensive production, with how we’ve used him, and also on special teams,” Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich said.

Going forward, Nelson’s offensive speed and agility will be crucial for the Ducks to reach their first Pac-12 win. And with only offense to worry about, he has the potential to be a playmaker that this Oregon offense desperately needs.

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The Oregon women’s golf team finished tied for fourth as a team at the Nanea Pac-12 Preview on Monday and Tuesday, led by a strong outing by sophomore Kathleen Scavo.

The Ducks finished 29-over at the Kailua Kona, Hawaii event to claim the fourth place finish. They scored 1-over in the first round, 25-over in round two on Monday and ended with a combined total of 3-over in round three on Tuesday.

Oregon finished fourth among the Pac-12 schools in birdies, tallying 39.

Arizona State took home the win, finishing 2-over, while USC’s Robynn Ree placed first individually with 6-under par.

Scavo had the highest finish of her career, tied for fourth at 2-under. She was tied for first after day one, but finished 1-over on day two, while many of her competitors improved by multiple strokes after the first day. On top of being Scavo’s highest finish, it marks her first top-five finish and her second top-10 finish for the Ducks.

Oregon’s next highest finisher was senior Cathleen Santoso who finished 8-over to tie for 24th.

After struggling in the second round, Santoso finished strong with 3-under in the third and final round, earning the best final round score of the tournament for the Ducks.

Brooke Hamilton was the Ducks third-best finisher, tying for 37th overall with a final scorecard of 12-over. She was followed by Amy Matsuoka in 41st with 14-over and Petra Salko at 53rd with 21-over.  

This tournament wraps up the Ducks’ fall schedule and now they get a break before the spring schedule begins in February.

“We know that we have some things to refine this offseason, but we remain confident that our players are capable of doing some great things,” Oregon head coach Ria Scott told goducks.com following the tournament.

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Justin Herbert may be the pride and joy of Sheldon High School, but he is not the only athlete coming out of the 6A Eugene-area school to make the transition to Division I Oregon football.

Sheldon has more alumni on the current roster than any other school, accounting for four athletes. Central Catholic in Portland, Oregon, and Centennial in Corona, California, tie for second with three players each.

Those former Sheldon athletes are a mixture of walk-ons and scholarship-winners, the most well-known being freshman starting quarterback Justin Herbert. He is joined by fellow quarterback Taylor Alie, redshirt junior linebacker Ivan Faulhaber and freshman offensive lineman Ryan Phillipo.

Though they haven’t always played together due to age differences, this group of Ducks grew up in similar friend groups, neighborhoods and teams. That familiarity enabled a high level of comfortability when transitioning into Oregon’s football program.

“It made it a lot easier coming into a program that’s a little different than our program that we had back at Sheldon,” Phillipo said. “Having Taylor and Ivan here really helped me learn the process a lot better because they already knew what was going on.”

Herbert and Phillipo have played football together since they were kids. Phillipo was Herbert’s offensive lineman for four years while at Sheldon, so they saw significant playing time together.

“Me and Justin have been friends forever,” Phillipo said. “Being able to have a kid that you’ve known since first grade and been on the same team with since the first grade has been awesome.”

According to Les Phillipo, the linemen coach at Sheldon and Ryan Phillipo’s father, Herbert took snaps with Phillipo under center at one point early in Oregon’s fall camp.

“To have the person you’re familiar with catching the snap and a person you’re familiar with snapping it to them during practice — it makes things a little bit easier to go to that next level,” Les Phillipo said.

Oregon Ducks linebacker Ivan Faulhaber (52) waves as he leaves the tunnel. The No. 12 Oregon Ducks play the Georgia State Panthers in Eugene Oregon on September 19, 2015. (Adam Eberhardt/Emerald)

Ryan Phillipo and Herbert were just freshmen when Alie and Faulhaber led the Fighting Irish to the 2012 Oregon state football championship. The two were years apart in age, and Herbert said that Alie was a valuable mentor in high school.

“In a freshman game, I ended up throwing a pick and [Alie] came up to me and slapped me on the back of the helmet and said, ‘Get after them,’ ” Herbert recalled. “I remember that.”

In his recent transition into the spotlight at Oregon, Herbert said that Alie has been as helpful as ever.

“He’s been a huge mentor,” Herbert said. “He helps me whenever I need it. Like a question, or anything on the protection — I go to him. He’s the easiest guy to go to.”

Mitch Herbert, Justin Herbert’s brother and a wide receiver at Montana State, also credits Alie’s mentorship for improving his brother’s game.

“That’s been really important for him to have a fellow QB like Taylor to talk to,” Mitch Herbert said. “He definitely won’t be scared to talk to him.”

Mitch Herbert also considers Phillipo’s presence on the team “huge” for his brother.

“Just the fact that they’re comfortable with each other is really important for his progression,” he said.

Quarterbacks coach David Yost has seen the effect that Alie and offensive intern Tyler Osborne — also a Sheldon graduate — have had on the young quarterback.

“[Alie and Herbert] have a great relationship,” Yost said. “I know Taylor really went out of his way to try and help him and make him feel comfortable and all that, so that’s a real positive.”

Osborne, whom Dakota Prukop credited to helping him quickly learn the offense, played four years of football at Sheldon, as well. But he has followed in the footsteps of his father, special teams coach Tom Osborne, and is in his fourth year interning for the Oregon football team.

“It was really cool to be able to help him out just from a kind of big brother type thing at first,” Osborne said. “Then we end up finding out that he’s really pretty good.”

Faulhaber, like Alie, is three years older than Herbert, and is good friends with Mitch Herbert, as well. Faulhaber and Justin saw a lot of each other growing up and are close friends.

“It’s pretty amazing — I knew he was going to go far and kind of do his thing but I didn’t know it’d get to this extent,” Faulhaber said of Herbert. “It’s really cool to see him develop as a player and as a person. He’s matured a lot.”

Two of the last three Sheldon quarterbacks have started for Oregon, so the Fighting Irish must be doing something right.

“Sheldon’s had an outstanding program for the last several years, so they’re developing some athletes, and I think proximity [plays a role in recruiting],” Oregon offensive line coach Steve Greatwood said. “A lot of those kids are walk-on kids that we’ve welcomed into our program that have done an outstanding job.”

Les Phillipo credits the Sheldon’s “team-first” mentality for those athletes’ smooth transition to Oregon football.

“There are several kids that are [on the Oregon team and] you know they want to play; they are more into it for themselves,” Phillipo said. “But at Sheldon, we’ve always taught and preached being a part of a family type of thing first. You do whatever it takes to make the team better, and so our kids are not necessarily into it for their own glory; they’re into it for making the team better.”

The Oregon Ducks host the No.5 Washington Huskies at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on Oct.8, 2016. (Eric Cech/Emerald)

Sheldon has a history of producing Oregon standouts. Quarterback Chris Miller played for 10 seasons in the NFL and captained the Oregon offense from 1983 to 1986. He also was the last true freshman to start at quarterback before Herbert.

Tyler Osborne admits about himself that he “wasn’t the greatest football player of all time,” but enjoys coaching his fellow Sheldon alumni now.

“I always joke with these guys,” Osborne said, “We’ve got the three best Sheldon guys that are taking reps at quarterback in the same room between me, Taylor and Justin.

The chemistry that comes from growing and learning together, especially starting at such a young age, is something that Osborne appreciates about this year’s team.

“It’s pretty cool being able to see those guys each day and kind of know where they came from.”

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Falling short of a goal in a sport is always tough, but what’s tougher is coming back the next year better and stronger because of it.

Oregon women’s club ultimate, also known as ‘Fugue,’ has the goal of winning the national championship every year. They always considers themselves championship contenders and understand that there is a target on their back because of their past success.

They have won three national championships in the last six years, but tied for third place in last year’s tournament.

Now, Fugue not only has to come back from that tough semi-final loss last season, but also must rebuild a team that lost eight key players (seven to graduation and one to transfer). That included all three of the team’s captains, Jesse Shofner, Alex Ode and Bethany Kaylor.

“When big players like that leave, we have a lot of opportunity for younger players to step up into those roles and I think that that’s what’s going to happen this year,” senior captain Kaitlin Brunik said.

Shofner was also a 2016 finalist for the Callahan award, the most prestigious award in ultimate — comparable to the Heisman in college football.

“Jesse did dominate the field a lot, so it allows for people to take up that space that she was in and allow them to dominate the field in their own way,” senior Gabby Aufderheide said.

While only seven players play on the field at once, losing that many significant athletes is a big deal. But that gives the rookies an opportunity to shine and show what they can do.

Unfortunately for Fugue, their first tournament in Chico, California, that they usually use to develop those rookie players, was cancelled due to weather conditions. Because of that, the veteran players have been forced to realign their normal fall tryout process and find other ways to give rookies playing time.  

“Chico is usually a really good time for bonding and getting people hooked who are a little on the edge, but it’s also just a ton of play time. So people improve really quickly,” Aufderheide said.

Now, Fugue will utilize their upcoming Oregon Fall Ultimate Disc Games tournament that they host as they try to cement a season roster to develop as they get closer and closer to the anxiously anticipated national championship tournament in the spring.

For most teams, third place in a national competition is nothing to sniff at. But for this Fugue team that has been historically known for winning, they expect to win and were not satisfied with their third place finish.

“This year, we have that in our back pocket,” senior psychology major Sarafina Angstadt-Leto said. “That happened, and we all experienced it, so we’re really using it to make us hungry for this season.”

The past two times that Fugue did not win the national championship, they came back the next year to win. This year’s athletes feel like that could be the case once again.

“Whenever you come off of a big loss like that, there’s this anger that fills you and this want to do better and improve yourself,” Aufderheide said. “So the next year, it’s always easier than it is if you had won to like work hard the whole season, because you know how heartbreaking it is.”  

Brunik had similar sentiments to share regarding Fugue’s tough championship tournament loss.

“I think that that put a lot of things in perspective for most of the team, we definitely took a lot away from that,” Brunik said. “I think losing actually motivates you more to work hard, and so I think that will give us great motivation this season.”

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Tom Heinonen may not tell you himself, but around 30 years ago, he was the leading force behind one of the most successful women’s cross country programs in the NCAA.

He not only led the Oregon women’s cross country team to qualifying for the NCAA championships meet 24 times, but they won the team title twice. His team also won the NCAA track and field championships in 1985 and Heinonen was named NCAA Coach of the Year on two separate occasions. His athletes made 17 Olympic appearances and set three American records.

Heinonen served as the head coach for the Oregon women’s track and field and cross country programs for 27 years, and is now going on his 14th year as head coach of the University of Oregon Running Club.

“I think some of the older ones, and some of them that are more involved with running know what I did in my other life,” Heinonen said. “But most of them have no idea. Once in a while I say ‘oh, I coached over on the other side of the fence for 28 years,’ but most of them — they’re 18-years-old, they’re freshmen. They don’t know anything about U of O history, let alone women’s track history.”

It’s not often that a club coach is also a former NCAA Coach of the Year, but Heinonen is not one to boast.

“That’s the thing about Tom; he doesn’t tell you that,” sophomore running club athlete Kylen Fleishman said. “He’s humble to the point of being anonymous about it. I didn’t really know anything about him until one of my friends mentioned that he had coached [two] women’s teams to a national titles, which is kind of insane when you really think about it.”

While some running club athletes are surprised to hear about Heinonen’s illustrious coaching career, other are completely aware.

“I definitely knew,” said sophomore Tia Hatton. “I personally was going to go run at different division I schools — that was one of my main goals in choosing a school. But basically having Tom as a coach and having the running club available really cinched the deal for me to come to U of O and not be running on a division I team.”

Since transitioning from being a high-octane division one coach, Heinonen has settled into a more relaxed environment.

“With the running club, it’s entirely different,” Heinonen said. “I don’t feel any pressure of expectation and really, I’ve made it that way. I’ve just said ‘I’m not being paid, I’m doing this because it’s fun.’ If it’s not fun, I won’t do it. If it’s not fun for them, I won’t do it. So the goal, really, has just been to make it joyful for everybody and it’s ended up being pretty rewarding.”

Heinonen takes pride in making sure that the running club is a welcoming community for any and all athletes to join. He takes it upon himself to remember names and get to know all of his runners. He doesn’t care if someone is an elite runner, he just cares that they’re enjoying themselves in the process.

“I don’t know anyone who’s felt uncomfortable after their first day of running club,” Fleishman said. “There’s some people apprehensive before they get there. They’re like ‘oh, do I have to compete, or is the coach going to not let me run if I’m not fast enough?’ And then they meet Tom and they’re instantly acclimated to the club persona.”

This year will mark Heinonen’s 41st season of coaching responsibilities on the University of Oregon campus. The only difference between this year and Heinonen’s first: He’s now doing it purely out of habit, and for the joy of giving back to the running community.

“I’m lucky enough to spend my post-career career doing the parts of the sport that are just fun for me,” Heinonen said. “Meeting college kids every single day with no pressure and just the joy of being around them.”

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Oregon women’s golf wrapped up its second day of the Windy City Collegiate on Tuesday in Chicago, Illinois.

The Ducks finished strong, shooting 3-over as a team in the third, and final round on Tuesday, after shooting 6-over and 7-over on Monday. The strong finish put the Ducks at 16-over and tied them with Oklahoma State for ninth place.

The University of Georgia took the win over 13 other teams, with 10-under after the two day, 54-hole series.

Senior veteran Cathleen Santoso led the Ducks overall at 1-over par to tie for 16th. Fellow senior Kathleen Scavo followed just behind with 4-over par and a tie for 25th overall.

Freshman Brooke Hamilton had a great second day, sinking five birdies to shoot just 2-under par after 2-over and 5-over on Monday. Her strong finish led her to a tie for 38th place.

Sophomore Petra Salko and freshman Amy Matsuoka finished up Oregon’s top-five for the Ducks tied for 47th and 56th overall, respectively.

After the final round, head coach Ria Scott said that Oregon needs to get better at getting 10-20 footers in the hole to allow for more birdies to drop, but is happy with the team’s improvement.

“This team continues to improve weekly, if not daily,” Scott told GoDucks.com. “The hole locations today were the toughest we have seen this season, and our team handled it well.”

Next up, the Ducks head to the Greenville Regional Preview in Greenville, North Carolina on Oct. 17-18.

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Thursday’s Oregon football practice was routine as usual, except for one thing: a bull corralled just outside of the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex.

The bull is being held for the Professional Bull Riders event at Matthew Knight Arena this weekend. Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich commented that he would have taken a ride, but there were no liability forms to sign.

The bull serves as a good distraction for an Oregon team that is coming off of two straight losses, and prepares to go against a Washington State team that the Ducks lost to 45-38 in overtime last year.

“The biggest thing right now is just getting over that hump of doing your job great for every single snap,” Helfrich said. “Whatever the circumstance is, totally buying into everything we’re doing — and we’ve had progress. But progress has resulted in, you know, two three-point losses. And being that close is, again, it’s equal parts frustrating and equal parts encouraging.”

Washington State quarterback Luke Falk is someone who Oregon secondary coach John Neal has said is a future NFL quarterback. For defensive coordinator Brady Hoke’s defense, he says that they must “get the pressure from making him hold the ball.” The Oregon secondary allowed Falk to pass for 505 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions in the Ducks’ overtime loss last year.

“They’re going to get rid of the football,” Hoke said. “The thing that we have to do is make [Falk] hold it. You know, one more half a second, one more second.”

“His accuracy is really good. He has a good arm … He knows where to go with the football in the spacing they use. I think he does a really nice job.”

Success on the defensive side of the ball is going to be essential for the Ducks to come out with a win in Pullman on Saturday. But both Hoke and Helfrich are confident in how the defense has practiced this week.

“We’ve had really good work,” Helfrich said. “Particularly defensively trying to bounce back and now, again, we’ve got to put it together on Saturday.”

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Eugene, also known as TrackTown USA, is home to some of the most prestigious track and field meets in the country. This past summer, Hayward Field was home to the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials and many current and former Ducks competed. Some even finished in the top three spots and qualified to represent the United States in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the Olympic Games.

Ashton Eaton

Eaton already cemented himself as the best athlete in the world with a gold medal in the decathlon at the 2012 Olympic Games and broke his own world record in 2015. Eaton further established himself in Rio, scoring 8,893 points to win gold and tie the Olympic record. He was also the first man to defend his Olympic decathlon title since 1984. Eaton is unsure if he will continue competing, but says that there is no chance he’ll be in Tokyo in 2020. For now, he will continue to take time off and wait to decide whether he, and his wife Brianne, will continue to compete.

Brianne Theisen-Eaton

Theisen-Eaton placed 11th in the heptathlon during the 2012 Olympic Games. Unhappy with that result, she was determined to improve. She had a rough day one of the heptathlon in Rio, but was able to come back day two to win bronze. She scored 6,653 points, 155 points behind her personal best. If she decides to continue to compete, she will continue to train under coach Harry Marra with her husband Ashton Eaton.

Matthew Centrowitz

Centrowitz won the World Indoor 1,500-meter final in March and continued his success at the 2016 Olympics Games. Centrowitz became the first American to win the 1,500 meters since Mel Sheppard in 1908. He run in several competitive races in the weeks following his Olympic victory, and was honored by his hometown Baltimore Orioles on Aug. 29. He will continue to train with the Nike Oregon Project in Portland.

Galen Rupp

Rupp successfully attempted a difficult 10,000-meter and marathon double at the Olympics. In the 10,000, he placed fifth in a time of 27 minutes, 8.92 second, while also winning the bronze in the marathon. Rupp has stated that the 2017 track and field world championships could by his last time competing at 5,000- and 10,000-meter events before he shifts to running the marathon full time. Rupp will continue to train as a part of the Nike Oregon Project.

Cyrus Hostetler

Hostetler finished fourth at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, but qualified or the Olympics with the Olympic standard. At this summer’s Trials, he won to qualify for Rio. In Rio, Hostetler placed 20th overall and didn’t make the finals. Hostetler will continue to train in Chula Vista, California at the Olympic Training Center.

Jenna Prandini

Prandini narrowly edged track and field superstar Alyson Felix for the third and final qualifying spot for the 200-meter dash at the U.S. Trials to qualify for Rio. She was also a part of the 4×100 relay pool. She placed tenth in the semi-finals with a time of 22.55 seconds, missing the final by two spots. Prandini will continue to train for the next Olympic Games with Puma as her sponsor.

Several current Ducks also represented the Ducks in Rio. Redshirt Junior Arianna Washington was in the relay pool, Deajah Stevens placed eighth in the 200-meter dash and Devon Allen placed fifth in the 110-meter hurdles. Washington and Stevens will continue to compete in track this upcoming season. Allen, who also plays football, recently tore his ACL in a game against Nebraska. Due to the injury, he will be unable to compete for the Ducks or run professionally this year.

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