Sept. 22, 2011
Game Notes 
CORVALLIS, Ore. - The Oregon State women’s soccer team kicks off the Pac-12 Conference season against Colorado at 5:00 p.m. on Friday Sept. 23 at Paul Lorenz Field. This will be the first meeting between the two teams in school history.
Colorado is coming off a rocky start to their season with their record currently standing at 3-4-1. This past weekend they came away with a 2-2 tie against nationally ranked Auburn and defeated CSU Bakersfield 2-1.
“They are going to be a strong opponent,” head coach Linus Rhode said. “It is our first Pac-12 game, so for us we are just going to look at the scouting reports and figured out what we need to do tactically to get a win on Friday.”
After dropping out of the rankings for a week, the Beavers are back in the top-25 with a No. 24 ranking by the NSCAA. Colorado is currently not ranked and were picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12 this season. After finishing second in the Pac-12 during the 2010 season, Oregon State was picked to finish third behind UCLA and Stanford.
Oregon State is coming off a successful weekend where they hosted the Oregon State Nike Invitational. Goals were not absent in Corvallis from the Beavers because they recorded eight during the weekend.
The Beavers kicked off against Florida International and defeated the Golden Panthers 7-0. Chelsea Buckland scored her first hat trick in an Oregon State uniform. Jacy Drobney, Melinda Ingalls, Jenna Richardson and Brandi Dawson all added to the scoreboard that night to finish the dominating performance.
The Beavers took on the UC Davis Aggies for their second match-up of the tournament and defeated them 1-0. Buckland scored her fourth goal of the tournament and the winning goal of the match to defeat the Aggies and earn herself the Offensive MVP award.
“Buckland’s four goals this weekend were very good,” Rhode said. “She has been struggling with injuries and trying to get back to form this year so we are happy for her to be in the position that she is in. Our job is to keep her there, move forward, and hopefully the goals will keep coming.”
The soccer world took notice of Buckland’s performance during the Nike Invitational. She was selected as part of the week five Women’s College Team of the Week for both Soccer America and TopDrawerSoccer.com.
This will be the second weekend in a row at home for the Oregon State Beavers after having spent three weekends on the road. The team and coaches are excited to be able to open conference play at Paul Lorenz Field.
“I think there is a benefit to opening up conference play at home,” Rhode said. “We have been on the road a lot and I know our players like playing at home. Friday night games are always a lot of fun to play under the lights. The girls are excited so we are expecting a good game.”
The admission to the game Friday night is free, but the team will be collecting canned food items for Community Outreach. Their partnership with Community Outreach started in 2008 and they have been able to collect around 700 to 1,000 canned food items a season.
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