Late last fall the Oregon soccer team gathered in a meeting room at Papé Field, anxious to see the announcement of the NCAA Tournament field.
The hope was that the Ducks, coming off a 9-4-6 regular season, would see their name called as an at-large choice for a tournament berth. The first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history seemed to be at hand.
It was not to be. The Ducks quietly exited to the meeting room and headed out into their offseason. But the sting of that moment didn't go away.
"We might have thought it was our year last year; we might have thought we were going to get that," UO goalkeeper Leah Freeman said.