Pepperdine Waves soccer kicks off season

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Pepperdine junior Lynn Williams competes against a Cal player during the Waves’ season opener against the Golden Bears 

The Pepperdine University Waves women’s soccer team started off its season with a tie against the University of California Berkeley Golden Bears, followed by a shutout win over the Wright State Raiders. 

The Waves began the season by tying 1-1 with 18th-ranked Cal, in a match that went into double overtime, on Aug. 26 at Tari Frahm Rokus Field in Malibu. Nine true freshmen appeared in the contest for Pepperdine. Kristen Rodriguez scored the goal for the Waves, the first of her collegiate career and the inaugural point of the season. 

“The reality is that the freshmen did really, really well today,” head coach Tim Ward said. “It’s not easy to come into your first collegiate game and manage the expectations and the emotions of it all…It was a great result against a great team.” 

During the next game, the local team posted a 1-0 win over Wright State on Aug. 29 in Malibu in its first shutout of the season. Lynn Williams scored the winning goal, her first for the season and sixth game-winning goal of her college career. The game started out slow for both teams, but the Waves turned up the intensity in the second period to earn the win.