Red card trips up Ducks in opener.

Byline: Chris Hansen The Register-Guard

UO SOCCER

Down a coach, down a player and then down a goal, the Oregon women's soccer team did all it could just to stay on a level playing field Friday night.

It just wasn't enough, as the Ducks opened their season with a 1-0 nonconference loss to Long Beach State in front of 706 at Pape Field.

Oregon was forced to play one player down for the final 55 minutes of the game following the ejection of defender Nicole Dobrzynski late in the first half, and the 49ers finally took advantage in the 70th minute by scoring off a corner kick that got away from goalkeeper Jessie Chatfield.

True to her word, UO head coach Tara Erickson was on the sideline just two days after giving birth to daughter Taj Makena. Erickson sat along the Oregon bench for most of the game with her daughter nearby.

Her role, however, was more as an observer, while associate head coach Mike Smith and assistant Nicole Wilcox guided the Ducks against a Long Beach State team that went 12-5-3 last season and returned all 11 starters, including a pair of 2005 freshman all-Americans.

"I thought the team really battled hard and rallied to play with 10 players on the field against supposedly the 28th-ranked team in the country," Smith said. "I'm very proud of the team but very disappointed about the loss, of course."

Oregon had six new starters in its lineup, including all four midfielders - though one was Allison Newton, who had started all 19 games as a defender last fall - and a new forward, leaving forward Nicole Garbin as the only one on the field who scored for the Ducks in 2005.

That inexperience was evident early in the game, as Oregon attempted only three shots - two by Garbin - and had one corner kick in the first half, compared with 10 shots and two corners for the 49ers. The Ducks were more aggressive on offense in the second half, outshooting Long Beach State 6-5.

But the game turned 10 minutes before halftime when Dobrzynski was given a red card for intentionally knocking down Long Beach State's Sahar Haghdan as she attempted a shot.

"We were very, very disappointed about that. I didn't think it was a great call," Smith said. "I thought it was a reasonable challenge. (Dobrzynski) got a piece of the ball. ... It was very disappointing to have her ejected from the game at that point."

On the ensuing penalty kick, Chatfield dove to her left to block a waist-high line drive by Kim Silos for the most impressive of her six saves in the game.

The 49ers scored when Chatfield dropped a corner kick and Dana Farquhar was there to knock it in.

"I got hit from behind by a girl who was trying to score," Chatfield said. "It probably should have been a foul, but the refs can't see everything and it was in the run of play."

The Ducks had two good scoring chances in the final minutes, but an attempt by Danielle Sweeney off a deflected corner kick went high over the crossbar, and a header by Newton sailed wide with 10 seconds left.