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Cortez aims to make her last season with Ducks the best

Maui High graduate hopes to get Oregon first NCAA berth, eyes NWSL career

By Robert Collias 7 min read

It's easy to call Chai Cortez's fifth season on the University of Oregon soccer team the icing on the cake of her Ducks career.

Making a successful run at the first NCAA tournament berth in school history would allow Cortez to depart Eugene, Ore., with the feeling of having had her cake and eating it, too.

"I mean, I hope so, that's still the goal, but ever since (head coach) Graeme (Abel) came aboard we've been breaking, like, new records each year, so in a way that resonates with me," Cortez said Friday via phone. "But, you know, that (NCAA berth) is still the goal for me. It's my last year, I only have one more go-around."

Cortez, a Maui High School graduate, has played 61 matches as a defender for the Ducks in her career and is coming off a season in which they inched a little bit closer to that elusive postseason berth with a 9-4-6 mark.

She was all-Pac-12 third team last season and Pac-12 Player of the Week (Sept. 26) when Oregon played a 0-0 tie against No. 3 UCLA, the first time the Bruins had been shut out at home in more than three years.

Cortez, blessed with a strong leg that makes her a key in set pieces as she is often the player taking the free kick, tied for the team lead with five assists last season and has nine assists in her career.

Her lone goal was the game winner at Cal as a junior -- Oregon's first win ever in Berkeley -- when her corner kick beat the goalkeeper. The same weekend, the Ducks beat defending NCAA champion Stanford for the first time ever.

In each of the last two seasons, the Oregon defense has allowed fewer than a goal per match -- a school-record 0.69 mark in the 2020 season that was delayed by the pandemic until spring 2021, and a 0.97 goals allowed mark last season, the fourth best in school history.

In the 14 matches she started as a junior, the Ducks' D surrendered just eight goals.

The Oregon defense figures to be ready again. The Ducks' season begins Thursday against New Mexico State.

"The defense, the girls I'm playing with is by far the best girls I've ever played against, played with and against every day -- to be able to return some of the players that we had last year and the years before is definitely a blessing," Cortez said. "We have Leah Freeman back there, who you know is one of the best goalkeepers in the Pac-12."

Cortez then runs down just about the entire roster, singing the accolades of her teammates, including 10 freshmen.

"All of us make a good combination of experience and talent, so I'm excited to see what else we can do this year," Cortez said. "We return a lot of good players, too, so we have that experience, but these freshmen that came in, they're going to contribute in a good way this season and I'm excited to see their growth as the season goes on."

All of the accolades bring a smile to Cortez's face as she makes one more run through the loaded Pac-12 before what is sure to be a professional career in the National Women's Soccer League.

"Oh my goodness, I mean, it's kind of crazy that I'm a fifth year, this is my last year, I never thought that I'd be leaving Oregon, let alone the Ducks and my teammates," Cortez said. "So, to be given another year due to COVID is definitely a blessing and I'm going to try and maximize this opportunity while I can."

The final go-around will include another season with sixth-year senior True Dydasco, a midfielder out of Punahou. Dydasco was hurt in the second match of the season in 2021, knocking her out before she was granted a medical redshirt to come back this year.

"Me and True, we were like rivals growing up -- she played for Honolulu Bulls and I was Maui United and Surf, so it's cool going from rivals to being teammates because we've been with each other since five years ago and never would I have thought we'd be walking out here alone," Cortez said. "So, I'm excited she's coming back on the field from her ACL and she's looking real good. So, I'm pretty excited for her."

With the experience she has, Cortez is in a perfect place going into her final season.

"I think mentally and physically I feel like the most I've been prepared as compared to the years past," she said. "With the direction the coaches are giving us and the direction we're in this year, I'm just excited to see my improvement game to game."

All the success is not a surprise to Abel, who was named Oregon head coach two seasons ago. The Ducks have gone 15-9-11 in those two years, the first time the school has recorded back-to-back winning seasons in 40 years.

Cortez is one of the most decorated youth players ever from Maui -- she arrived in Eugene in 2018 with junior national team experience on teams at the U-18, U-17, U-16 and U-14 levels.

Abel was an assistant coach for the United States' World Cup championship teams in 2015 and 2019 and ran into a young Cortez on several occasions within the national team program.

Cortez put her relationship with Abel quite simply: "He is the real deal, his bio says enough to how much of a respected coach he is, but like if you were to take how he is off the field, he is the type of coach that I and the rest of my teammates, this is the type of coach you want to fight for, you want to get better for. He's a great coach, but he's an even better person."

Abel said that he sees Cortez being a key to the Ducks' success this year and it is not by mistake.

"I think the biggest thing for Chai is she's made an investment in herself -- that's been the biggest kind of difference maker for Chai, she's put the time in for herself in terms of what she does," Abel said. "She's invested in every facet of her game, from the physical side of things to the extra work with the technical piece.

"So, she's really made strides that way and I think it's given her a different level of confidence in herself."

The maturing process that Abel has witnessed in his left back has been special over the years.

"As a coach, it's so fun to see a kid invest in herself that way because we can want it for our student-athletes, but they've got to want it for themselves if it's really going to work and Chai has really done that," Abel said. "She's matured and like I said, she's gained a greater sense of confidence out of it, which is a really thing cool to see.

"We expect big things out of Chai because we believe in her ability, both as a person and as a soccer player."

Already a graduate with a bachelor's degree in political science with a minor in criminology and psychology, Cortez is taking a pair of real estate classes this fall "to see if I like the taste of it."

She has given serious thought to studying contract law and becoming a sports agent.

"Something around those realms would be pretty cool, but then I would have to go to law school, of course," Cortez said.

Certainly there is soccer to be played first. Beyond the Ducks' season, Cortez was succinct on what her plans are for spring 2023: the NWSL.

"That's the only thing on my mind right now," she said.

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

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