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Cortez continues to create her own legacy with Ducks

Following in Garbin’s footsteps, Maui High grad looks to lead Oregon back to NCAAs

By Robert Collias 5 min read

Chai Cortez knows all about Nicole Garbin and the legacy she left on the University of Oregon soccer program.

Now Cortez, a junior defender, is trying to do something the school's 2017 Hall of Fame selectee never did: Help the Ducks into the NCAA tournament.

"She's amazing, isn't she?" Cortez said via phone last week. "I am so happy and thankful for Nicole Garbin. I feel in a way she kind of paved the way for me at Oregon. She gave not only myself, but a lot of youth people a dream, per se. I looked up to Nicole growing up, I look even more up to her now."

The Maui High School graduate has followed the Oregon program since she was a youngster and is well aware of the 2006 season when the Ducks finished 12-6-2 overall and second in the Pac-10 Conference at 6-1-2.

Garbin was the conference player of the year that season -- the Baldwin graduate's sixth year in Eugene after two season-ending knee surgeries -- but the Ducks were somehow left out of the NCAA tournament.

When Cortez dealt with an ankle injury during her first fall at Oregon, Garbin helped with some words of encouragement.

"The first time I met Nicole Garbin was my freshman year when I was hurt and she gave me really good (advice)," Cortez said. "She kind of kept my head held up high when I was feeling down with my injury."

That injury limited Cortez to 172 minutes on the field as a freshman. She started all 19 matches last season as a sophomore and spent the second-highest number of minutes on the field for a non-goalie.

Before Sunday, the Oregon program had not played a match in 15 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. New coach Graeme Abel has been in place for just over a year with an impressive resume -- he was an assistant coach for the World Cup champion U.S. Women's National Team in 2015 and 2019.

"I'm always going to be grateful to the coaching staff that recruited me here to Oregon, they got me an opportunity that I always dreamed of as a little kid, but the (new) coaching staff ... I feel that we were still trying to learn about each other in this year and I'm grateful," Cortez said. "This COVID thing has kind of been a blessing in disguise. I want to say it helped us as a team know the coaches more. I feel that it helped the coaches look at us more. I'm very confident in our coaching staff."

Cortez is majoring in political science with a focus on law and justice, and a minor in psychology and criminology. Before using that degree, however, she plans on playing professionally or perhaps internationally. She is one of the most decorated Maui youth players ever, having played with U.S. junior national team at the U-18, U-17, U-16 and U-14 levels.

"I actually coached Chai when she was 14 or 15 years of age when I was an assistant with the national team," Abel said during the Ducks' virtual media day last Thursday. "I would travel around to some of the youth teams just to help out and pass some of the information down from the very top. So, I remember Chai when she was really young.

"She's been great since we've been here. We've really invested in her physically to make sure playing in the position that she does -- it's very north-south in terms of getting up and down, so there has to be a real good physical base for her in terms of endurance and speed. ... She's invested in that heavily, which has been great."

Abel believes Cortez has "a big future" in soccer.

"Twos and threes (defender spots) in our country are a hot commodity, I knew that from the national team," he said. "So, if you are a good outside back in this country then you have a chance moving forward beyond the collegiate game and I think Chai's one of those people that if she wants to continue playing then she'll have the opportunity to do that.

"And she's continuing to evolve and grow as a person as well, so she's doing great."

Cortez recorded the third assist of her career Sunday in the Ducks' opening 1-0 win over Gonzaga. Cortez's assist led to Ally Cook's game-winner with just over three minutes to play.

The Ducks play at Sacramento State on Feb. 19 before Pac-12 Conference play begins Feb. 26 when Stanford visits Eugene.

"We're just taking it one game at a time, one practice at a time and we feel that if we are prepared in practice it should translate to the games, so I'm excited for our hard work to pay off," Cortez said last week.

"I'm just hoping that we all stay safe and I'm sure that if we take the right precautions and listening with our medical staff, working with them and our coaching staff, it should be OK. So, I'm not really worried on the COVID side because our medical staff, they're one of the best in the country."

The Ducks were 5-9-5 in 2019, leading to coach Kat Mertz's dismissal. Cortez is cautiously optimistic about how the team can do this season.

"I always hear this question when I go home because I do have family members that keep up with the Ducks," she said. "I feel like this team always could make it into the NCAA and I feel that there's obviously some pressure going into the season under a new coaching staff ... the potential is there. It always has been there, but as a team I feel like we're focusing on one game at a time."

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

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