It looked as though it could be a comeback to remember, but ended as one of Oregon football’s most discouraging Pac-12 openers.

After overcoming a 23-7 deficit to lead 38-33 late in the third quarter, Oregon ultimately lost to Colorado 41-38 at Autzen Stadium on Saturday.

In a season filled with disheartening moments, ignited by Autzen’s 110-game sellout streak ending, this loss adds to Oregon’s ongoing struggles. The uncharacteristic tempo problems, a struggling defense and Oregon’s first loss to Colorado since it joined the Pac-12, not mention the Duck’s first back-to-back loss in a long time; Oregon needed this game for momentum, for morale and for the fans.

“We’re all in this together, coaches—first and foremost—in keeping guys pointed in the right direction is a big deal right now,” head coach Mark Helfrich said.

The Ducks came out lackadaisical in the first half with two consecutive three-and-outs, while Colorado took advantage of Oregon’s developing run defense to get points on the board on each of its first three drives. The Buffaloes were up 16-7 after the first quarter with 203 total offensive yards, compared to Oregon’s 86.

After halftime, the Ducks came out and gained momentum with two big interception by freshman Brenden Schooler and Troy Dye. Both of those ensuing drives ended in points for Oregon. Those interceptions, along with the points scored following them, brought the fans back into the game, which in turn, hyped up the players and led to a productive third quarter of play.

“Those two interceptions were big keys in the game, I mean, the crowd got back into it and we just kind of fed off everything,” Dye said.

Injuries have been a leading storyline for Oregon this season. Running back Royce Freeman’s injury has been one of the most significant injuries recently.

Freeman sustained a lower leg injury early in the Nebraska game and was sidelined Saturday. Against Nebraska, the rest of the Oregon running backs corps flourished, and Saturday they had another decent outing. But again, it wasn’t enough to win.

“Obviously Royce is unique, but those other guys have had very good production—there aren’t too many things that we’re doing differently without Royce,” Helfrich said. “Tony did a nice job, Kani and Taj did good things at times, a couple things we’ll want to call a re-do on but for the most part, we did a good job.”

Tony Brooks-James had a career-high 122 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Despite, the interceptions for Oregon and liveliness on both sides of the ball in the second half, everything ultimately came down to Oregon’s final offensive play of the game: first and goal with less than a minute on the clock. Dakota Prukop under threw Darren Carrington, resulting in a Colorado interception and ending Oregon’s comeback.

“I’ve never been in a train wreck, but that was probably what it would feel like,” Helfrich said in response to how he felt when the ball was intercepted.

Prukop said the pass was something that he just “didn’t put enough juice on it.”

“People are going to say, ‘Oh, it’s not one play, you know, there’s a whole game,’ but it came down to the last play,” Prukop said. “And that’s something I work with Darren all the time, so it just comes down to execution on my part.”

It was a disastrous ending for a highly questioned, injured and young Oregon team.

In this loss, as well as Oregon’s loss to Nebraska, they lost by three points.

When asked about other similarities between the two, Helfrich had one thing to say: “The wrong team winning at the end by three points.”

Now, all the Ducks can do is learn from this loss and move on to focus on next week’s game against Washington State.

“I haven’t been through something like this before,” Prukop said. “You know, it sucks, but you’ve just got to eat it, learn from it, can’t let it happen again. Just move on.”

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After losing to Nebraska last Saturday, the Ducks are trying to look past the tough defeat and focus on the upcoming game against Colorado.

But looking ahead has been harder than expected, after news Monday that both Tyrell Crosby and Devon Allen are out with season-ending injuries.

“That’s like getting struck by lightning twice,” Helfrich said Tuesday about Allen’s second ACL tear. “Very unfortunate for him, personally. He’s a guy that is revered around here and he’ll bounce back.”

Despite not being on the field this year, Helfrich said both Allen and Crosby will be “integral parts of rallying everybody up.”

“The credibility he has on the team and the type of guy he is — he’s got to be an emotional leader for us,” Helfrich said of Allen. “With a bunch of young guys, a bunch of immature guys at various spots that he kind of has influence with — we need that and we need his impact, still.”

Royce Freeman was also sidelined early in the Nebraska game, but was walking out of practice on Tuesday without crutches, braces or support of any kind. When asked of his availability Saturday, Helfrich said, “we’ll see.”

If Freeman remains out, running backs Kani Benoit, Tony Brooks-James and Taj Griffin will assume a larger role.

“Royce being dinged-up — we’re going to have to step up a little bit,” Griffin said.

Helfrich and the Oregon special teams received criticism for their four failed two-point conversions during the Nebraska game. Despite going one for five, Helfrich said completely dismissing two-point conversions would be like throwing an incompletion and never throwing the ball again.

“That’s not how we’re going to operate,” he said.

“Especially in the Nebraska game, we wanted to put pressure on their quarterback,” Helfrich said. “We wanted him to have to have the psychological pressure of a lead, and again, the first two looks we had were perfect. The second one we obviously need to coach better.”

It can be hard for a team to bounce back after a close loss, but Helfrich is happy with how his team has performed in practice so far this week.

“Our guys worked very, very hard yesterday and today. I liked their urgency, I liked their volume — a lot of times after a loss it’s very quiet in terms of when you get back out there, but they have stuck together and competed really well.”

Colorado is a team that usually doesn’t trouble Oregon. Last year the Ducks beat the Buffaloes 41-24 and in 2014, they won 44-10. This year, however, the Buffaloes look like they are starting to turn a corner. They even gave No. 4-ranked Michigan a scare, jumping ahead 21-7 after the first quarter this past weekend.

“Defensively, [Colorado has] been outstanding,” Helfrich said. “They’re really good defensively and have been for the last several years. This year I think they’re significantly different and better both offensively and in special teams … They’re playing with a bunch of confidence.”

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The No. 4-ranked Oregon women’s cross country team and the No. 2-ranked men’s cross country team kicked of their seasons with the 11^th annual Bill Dellinger Invitational on Friday.

The women ran a five-kilometer race, while the men ran eight kilometers.

In the women’s race, Emily Weber of Oregon State took the win in a time of 17 minutes, 26.2 seconds. Northwest Christian’s Sierra Brown and Shea Vallaire followed to place third and fourth.

Emma Abrahamson was next, as Oregon’s first athlete to cross the finish line, hitting a time of 17:34.2.

The Oregon women beat out Northwest Christian for the team victory, achieving a score of 39 versus Northwest Christian’s 51.

In the men’s competition, Oregon’s Sam Prakel and Tanner Anderson cruised through the finish line in equal times of 24:36.

Despite coming in third, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth individually, Portland was unable to beat the Ducks in the team scoring. The Oregon men narrowly beat out Portland 28-29.

Both teams were tested in their toughness. “We’re trying to be tough, as a team,” senior Maggie Schmaedick said.

Oregon has been rigorously training in Sunriver, Oregon over the past week, so the Ducks weren’t as fresh as many of the other visiting teams might have been.

“We’ve been training really hard up at camp at Sunriver and this is just our first race, a little rust-buster for everyone and I think it’s only going to go up from here … I think it’s going to be the best team we’ve had in a long time,” Abrahamson said.

Associate head coach Andy Powell was happy with his team’s performances.

“We were really training hard the last few weeks, so happy to come here—with tired legs for sure, but that’s just the time of year,” Powell said.

The teams drove down from Sunriver to compete in the meet—a “day trip” as some described it—and immediately drove back up following competition.

The Invitational has been held at Alton Baker Park the past few years, but made its way back to the Springfield Country Club for the first time since 2013. The course will be home to the Pac-12 Cross Country Championship next year, so this was a good opportunity for the Ducks to get a feel for it.

Maggie Schmaedick described the Springfield Country Club course as a “fun, flat, quicker course” compared to Pre’s Trail at Alton Baker. That’s something that she says all he teammates can agree with.

“I think the unanimous decision was that we really like having it here,” Schmaedick said. “Pre’s is pretty narrow and also—this time of year very, very dusty and so that’s just another added factor that makes it even more difficult … A little more bearable for this rust-buster early season thing.”

Now that the Ducks have successfully endured their “rust-buster” of an opening meet, they prepare for the Washington Invitational on October 1 in Seattle.

Oregon running back Royce Freeman has been one the most consistent players on the Ducks’ team since he first stepped foot on Rich Brooks Field as a freshman in late August 2014.

In that game against South Dakota, Freeman rushed for a modest 75 yards on ten carries behind Byron Marshall in Oregon’s dominant 62-13 victory.

Since then, he has been a Heisman hopeful every year, but found himself buried behind star backs such as Melvin Gordon of Wisconsin and Derrick Henry of Alabama. Freeman is one of the top returning players in the nation, but is this the year he truly breaks out and makes it to the Heisman ceremony in New York?

Freeman only had 11 carries in Oregon’s opener against U.C. Davis and rushed for a solid 78 yards, but said that he “had more than enough in the tank” and was “still fresh” going into the fourth quarter.

In Oregon’s preseason game against Virginia on Sept. 10, Freeman was given those extra carries that he wanted and didn’t waste a single one. He rushed for 210 yards on 21 attempts for two touchdowns, including one 85-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

“Last week I fell short of my standard,” Freeman said following the Virginia win. “You know, I always want to get 100 plus on carries and things like that. There’s a lot of ball to go around, but this week Coach Lubick was showing love.”

With three college football players named finalists and invited to the Heisman presentation in New York every year, Freeman must contend for those sacred three spots with other college football standouts, some of which have already experienced being a finalist.

Last season, Clemson quarterback DeShaun Watson and Stanford star Christian McCaffrey placed second and third in voting, and are front-runners in this year’s competition.

Three Oregon greats have also been Heisman finalists: Joey Harrington, LaMichael James, and Oregon’s only Heisman winner, Marcus Mariota.

In Saturday’s game against Virginia, Freeman moved up the rankings of Oregon’s top running backs. He surpassed Derek Loville for the third spot on Oregon’s career rushing list. Now, with 3,495 career-rushing yards, Freeman is less than 130 yards away from passing up Philadelphia Eagles running back Kenyon Barner and drawing closer to LaMichael James’ record of 5,082 yards.

When asked about how it feels to be in the record books among Oregon greats, Freeman said, “it’s pretty amazing.”

“Knowing the previous backs that came before me and all the hard work that they put in at this university, knowing some of those guys and actually talking to some of those guys personally, and having the ability to surpass them — it makes me feel good,” Freeman said. “It’s a great feeling and honestly a team milestone.”
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No. 24-ranked Oregon defeated Virginia 44-26 in front of a not-quite-sold-out Autzen Stadium crowd on Saturday night.

A win is a win. But tonight’s 44-26 win over Virginia, as well as Oregon’s win against UC Davis, have been different.

In recent seasons, Oregon has been known to trounce its preseason opponents. So far this season, the wins that Oregon has gotten have not achieved the level of domination that the coaches, players or fans are used to. With one offseason game remaining, many are wondering if Oregon will take it to the next level and “slam the door shut” against Nebraska on Saturday.

“Solid and victory are two words we like,” Mark Helfrich said after the game. “Coulda, woulda, shoulda just slammed the door shut on a bunch of different occasions in every phase, offensively and defensively.

“For the most part, not satisfied, but pleased.”

The Oregon offense started out slow, but gradually gained momentum as the game went on. After punting on the first drive, Oregon scored on four consecutive drives to build a 30-6 lead going into half.

Running back Royce Freeman scored the first touchdown for Oregon, giving the Ducks a 6-0 lead. The Ducks went for two, but were unable to convert. Fellow running back Tony Brooks-James scored next for Oregon, followed by Dwayne Stanford, Pharaoh Brown and a field goal by Aidan Schneider.

With a 24-point lead coming out of half — the was the point where the Ducks usually take it to the opposing team and increase their lead. Oregon did continue to score, but the Oregon defense allowed Virginia to score, as well. Despite dominating runs like Devon Allen’s 77-yard touchdown and Freeman’s 85-yard touchdown, the Ducks were still only leading by 24 going into the fourth quarter with a score of 44-20.

As the fourth quarter progressed, Virginia was the only team able to put more points on the board after scoring on a passing touchdown with 7:28 remaining on the clock.

Oregon’s winning margin of just 18 points is the type of score you’d normally see Oregon achieve against a Pac-12 opponent, not a struggling ACC team with a new head coach and a losing record.

Despite the underwhelming victory, the Ducks made a lot of improvements from week one to two and had some big plays.

After two turnovers last week, the Ducks had zero against Virginia.

After Freeman didn’t surpass the 100-yard benchmark that has become an expectation of him, he rushed for 210 yards on 21 attempts for two touchdowns.

The Ducks were great in the red zone, scoring on all five opportunities, and went 9-of-14 in third-down conversions.

On top of scoring a lot of points, the Ducks have been known for their high-speed tempo, something they showed huge progress in since playing UC Davis. Quarterback Dakota Prukop was unsatisfied with the tempo against UC Davis, but said his offensive achieved its “main goals.”

“Play at a fast tempo, play at our tempo, play at Oregon tempo — I definitely think we did that tonight,” Prukop said.

Prukop had 21 completions for 331 yards in his second showing as a Duck.

The Ducks ended the night with 632 yards of offense, while the Cavaliers had 388.

Oregon will look to make major strides in its first away game Saturday in Lincoln, Nebraska, against the Cornhuskers.

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The No. 24 Ducks defeated Virginia 44-26 at Autzen Stadium on Saturday night.

The Ducks got off to a slow start offensively in the first quarter, but kicked it up a notch in the second quarter and finished off the half leading 30-6. The second half, the Ducks were all about big plays. Olympian Devon Allen started off scoring with a 77-yard touchdown run, followed by an 85-yard run by Royce Freeman.

After not surpassing 100 yards rushing last week against U.C. Davis, Freeman not only reached 100 rushing yards, but surpassed that, rushing for 207 yards. Freeman is now third in Oregon history for career rushing yards, passing Derek Loville.

Key plays:

— Freeman’s rushing touchdown with seven minutes left in the first quarter. The Ducks went for two but were unable to convert. It put the Ducks on top of Virginia 6-0 after two scoreless drives.

— In Virginia’s second drive of the game, running back Albert Reid rushed for 45 yards and a touchdown to tie the game up. Virginia was unsuccessful in the point after.

— Just after Virginia scored its first touchdown, Charles Nelson answered with a 43-yard kickoff return. This put Oregon in a great position to score and was Nelson’s best return of the first half.

— Tony Brooks-James scored with 3:28 left in the first quarter to put the Ducks up by seven. It was Brooks-James’ second touchdown of the season.

— Prukop pass complete to Pharaoh Brown. It was Brown’s first touchdown of the year and gave Oregon a 27-6 lead with three minutes left in the half.

— Devon Allen was able to show his Olympic speed with a 77-yard touchdown pass from Prukop with 8:53 to go in the third quarter. This touchdown gave the Ducks a 37-13 lead.

— Freeman continued his dominance in the second half with a career-long run of 85 yards for a touchdown. That touchdown put the Ducks up 44-13 with 5:25 left in the third quarter.

Key Stats:

Oregon passing:

Dakota Prukop — 21-for-31 for 331 yards and three touchdowns

Virginia passing:

K. Benkert — 20-for-39 for 193 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions

Oregon rushing:

Royce Freeman — 21 attempts for 207 yards and two touchdowns

Kani Benoit — seven attempts for 28 yards

Virginia rushing:

Albert Reid — 15 attempts for 126 yards and one touchdown

Taquan Mizzell — 10 attempts for 48 yards and one touchdown

Oregon receiving:

Devon Allen — four receptions for 141 yards and one touchdown

Darren Carrington — four receptions for 59 yards

Pharaoh Brown — five receptions for 55 yards and one touchdown

Virginia Receiving:

Doni Dowling — four receptions for 54 yards

Keon Johnson — six receptions for 40 yards and one touchdown

Oregon total offense:

632 yards and no turnovers

Virginia total offense:

374 yards and two turnovers

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Over the past few years, Oregon has produced some of the top prospects in the National Football League. Just last year, two Ducks were selected in the NFL draft, but that is just the beginning of a long list of Ducks who have made NFL rosters.

A veteran running back on this year’s Oregon team, redshirt junior Kani Benoit, said that the Ducks’ staff prepares its players for the NFL in more ways than one.

“This is a really good place because they prepare you not only just as a football player, but to know the business side of the NFL and what to look for, what to stay away from, what to avoid,” Benoit said. “So I think coming here probably helped me for that next stage if possible.”

2016 Graduates  

This past year, Deforest Buckner (7^th overall to the SanFrancisco 49ers) and Joe Walker (251^st overall to the Philadelphia Eagles) were drafted, while Bralon Addison, Alex Balducci, Christian French, Tyler Johnstone and Byron Marshall were all signed as free agents.

The Seattle Seahawks released French in August, Marshall was signed to the Eagles’ practice squad, Balducci was signed to the 49ers practice squad, Johnstone was waived by the San Diego Chargers in late August and the Denver Broncos waived Addison when rosters were cut to 75.

Joe Walker tore his ACL in August and is forced to miss the upcoming season. Buckner on the other hand, is going strong with the Niners and gained valuable reps in the preseason.

Quarterbacks

Marcus Mariota may be the most notable Duck to ever be drafted. At second overall in 2015 to the Titans, no Oregon player in history has been drafted higher than Mariota. Another popular Oregon quarterback, Joey Harrington, ties for a close second as the third overall pick in 2002 with Dion Jordan to the Dolphins in 2013. Mariota is set to begin his second year as the starting signal caller in Tennessee this year as he hopes to improve upon the Titans’ 3-13 season last year. Kellen Clemens is another former Oregon QB that is still making his rounds in the NFL. This season will be Clemens’ eleventh season in the league as he backs up Phillip Rivers in San Diego.

Running backs

Talented running backs are a calling card for the Ducks, and it shows with all the Oregon talent in the backfield for numerous NFL teams. Jonathon Stewart is the number one back for the Carolina Panthers, De’Anthony Thomas plays for the Kansas City Chiefs, Kenjon Barner is in Philadelphia and LeGarrette Blount plays for the New England Patriots.

Super Bowl 50

There have been 42 former Ducks who have played in a Super Bowl. Most recently, in Super Bowl 50 (Broncos versus Panthers), the Ducks had three former players on the rosters. Jonathan Stewart, Ed Dickson and T.J. Ward all played in last year’s Super Bowl, but Ward was the only one to come away with a ring. Ward joins a group of 32 former Ducks with Super Bowl rings.

Injuries

Over the past summer, a few Ducks have unfortunately been plagued with injuries. After tearing his ACL while at Oregon, Ifo Ekpre-Olomu tore his ACL again in the beginning of August and was cut by the Dolphins. Hroniss Grasu, a third round pick in 2015 to the Chicago Bears, tore his ACL late in the offseason.

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As the opening kickoff of the 2016 Oregon football season draws closer, fans, coaches and players are becoming more and more anxious to get going.

As quarterback coach David Yost mentioned earlier this week, the upcoming game against UC Davis is going to be “like Christmas morning.” For head coach Mark Helfrich however, “Christmas morning” came long ago.

“The Christmas part always for me, is fall camp,” Helfrich said in a press conference on Tuesday. “When you get those guys for the first time and you see Tristan Wallace for the first time, or so-and-so newcomer that you hear great things about, you expect great things from those guys, but you don’t know until you get your hands on them … And the game is then another level.”

There are many new pieces to this Oregon team both offensively and defensively, and Helfrich is eager to see how they react on Saturday.

“We’ll do some things in the game on purpose to kind of rattle them,” Helfrich said. “You know checks and things, change some things just to see how we can do in an in-game situation and how they react and absorb that during the game is a different thing [than in practice].”

With many redshirt freshmen potentially starting on the defensive line on Saturday, their experience is something that has frequently been questioned.

“It’s funny,” Helfrich said. “When we think about those guys we don’t talk about how old they are or anything. We expect them to play perfectly and compete, compete their tails off every snap.”

Helfrich said that he is confident in the depth that they have at defensive line and expects to see a lot of rotation, at least two-deep on the depth chart.

“I want them to play right on that edge. You know, recklessly, disciplined, persistent, chasing the ball, getting after the run game. These guys can pound the ball, get after the quarterback and rotate in a bunch of guys.”

On the offensive side of things, Helfrich is looking to see his offensive weapons start to “just play.”

“This week, it’s so much more pared down,” Helfrich said. “They’re able to see the first part of that signal and start to develop that picture in their head and just play. And that’s what you want for everybody to happen sooner rather that later.”

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Although wide receiver Devon Allen went to the Olympics to represent the United States, NBC’s television coverage showed him, more often than not, as a University of Oregon representative.

Whenever Allen was spotlighted throughout the coverage, much of the talk centered around his role on the Oregon football team, as well as being an Olympic track athlete.

“I think that Oregon has a pretty big name already, so anybody associated with Oregon is going to get a little bit more pub,” Allen said. “It’s just kind of cool, you know, because I’m still in college representing the country as well as the school and myself and my family.”

Thursday, after Allen’s second day back with the football team since he finished fifth overall in the 110-meter hurdles final in Rio De Janeiro, Oregon held a press conference for Allen to reflect on his Olympic experience and answer questions about his future. Most significantly, the question of whether or not he will turn professional in track and field.

“I haven’t really decided yet, but there’s a good—I don’t know. We’ll see,” Allen said. “I guess, for me, it’s just there’s not much more I could do in college track other than break the collegiate record, which I was a couple hundredths off.”

With all of Allen’s success in track, many wonder why he doesn’t focus all of his time on track and leave football. He said he values playing with his teammates and coaches in Eugene.

“Football is a great thing, but, you know, it doesn’t last forever,” Allen said. “I love these guys on the team here and I just want to play with them as long as I can. So that’s pretty much the deciding factor on me whether to come back or not.”

Despite missing the majority of fall camp, Allen believes he is ready for the first game of the season. The Ducks host UC Davis on Sept. 2 at Autzen Stadium to open the 2016 season.

“I know the plays pretty well. Obviously I went through some stuff today and was kind of like, OK, maybe I need to brush up on some stuff,” Allen said. “So I’ve got about a week to do that. We’ll see, as long as Coach Helf and Coach Lubick see fit that I’m ready to play, they’re going to put me in there and kind of just go with the flow and get reps, and the reps will grow as the season goes.

“I think we have a lot of guys that can make plays too, so it’s not really a dire need for me to play anytime soon.”

Track is something that Allen believes can take him places. With next year’s World Championships in London and the next Olympic Games in Tokyo, he’s not wrong. But at the same time, Allen dreams of playing in the NFL.

“In four years, I want to win a gold medal,” Allen said, “so there’s one more stepping stone to that dream, but now my next dream is to play in the NFL and, you know, the Super Bowl is always the height of that sport, too.”

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The Oregon Fugue ultimate team has become a national powerhouse. After winning the D-1 National College Women’s Championship title last year — its third title since 2010 — Fugue looks to continue this victorious pattern at nationals this year in Raleigh, North Carolina this Friday through Monday.

Oregon is ranked No. 1 and has been placed in Pool A. Other competitors in the Ducks’ pool include No. 8 Colorado and No. 12 California. Oregon will begin competition on Friday against Colorado and Colorado College, then continue against California and Virginia on Saturday. If it competes well within its pool, Fugue will advance to the championship bracket.

Senior captain Jesse Shofner said nationals, which consists of four days of ultimate frisbee, is the best tournament of the year. Two of those days include single-elimination competition, a time when the pressure to compete is turned up a notch.

“At that point, there is nothing like playing for your season — you’re playing or you’re done and that’s when Fugue thrives,” Shofner said. “We’ll get in some sticky situations sometimes… and that’s when we take care of business — maybe not in the prettiest way, but we’re not going to go home. We’re not going to end early.”

The other teams going into nationals with the best chance to threaten Fugue’s back-to-back titles are No. 2 British Columbia, No. 3 Stanford and No. 5 Whitman. This season, the Ducks fell to British Columbia two of the five times they played. Stanford will also be a tough competitor for the defending-champion Ducks; however, they defeated Stanford 12-9 in the lone matchup of this season, and 13-11 in last year’s national championship game. Whitman is looking to bounce back from a quarterfinal elimination last year. This season, the Ducks beat Whitman four of the six times they played.

Even with this stiff competition, the Ducks are confident in their abilities and looking forward to some tough match-ups. Fugue has placed in the top three every year since 2009 and isn’t going into this year’s nationals expecting anything less.

“We’re pretty focused on winning,” team captain Alex Ode said. “At this point, we know how much potential we have, so to not win would probably be a letdown.”

“It’s just really grueling; everyone’s there to battle,” said Ode. “It’s the last tournament, so everyone is giving it their all, and you’ve got to make it through a lot of stages to make it to the final game. It’s just really high intensity, really high energy. It’s usually really hot, which is a challenge for us — it’s really fun though.”

Oregon is the only team that has played in the finals each of the past four years. As the Ducks take that championship experience into this year’s tournament, the other teams heading to nationals are keyed in on taking the powerhouse Ducks down.

“In some ways, other teams in the country don’t want to see us succeed,” Ode said. “And so, a lot of times at Nationals, people are rooting against us because we’ve been so successful.”

“The target is always on our back… but when we are in it, there’s not a question that we can’t win,” Junior Gabby Aufderheide said. “When it comes to the game, it’s going to be nerve-wracking, but going in I have full confidence in this team.”

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