Pepperdine women’s soccer team will try to add another digit to the win column on Friday before they start conference play.
The Waves, ranked 25th nationally in the NCAA women’s soccer standings as of last week, will play at Cal Poly for their last non-conference game of the season. The Waves will begin taking on competition in the West Coast Conference (WCC) on Sept. 30.
Pepperdine coach Tim Ward said the game against the Mustangs will be tough, but fun.
“Then, going into conference play, our goal is to win every game possible,” he said. “I think BYU is the team to beat, but I also believe that anybody on any day can beat anyone in our conference.”
The 4-3-2 Waves head into the contest five days after ending their last contest in a 1-1 tie with the visiting University of Kansas Jayhawks (5-3-2). Forward Taylor Alvarado gave the Waves their only score and senior goal keeper Hannah Seabert had five saves in the contest, which went beyond regulation and into two 10 minute overtimes.
Kansas’ Grace Hagen scored the game’s first score in the 17th minute of the first half, but Alvarado tied the contest almost 20 minutes later. After taking a pass from sophomore forward Michelle Maemone, Alvarado did some fancy footwork with the ball on the left side of the box before kicking it into the right side of the Kansas net.
Pepperdine’s head coach praised Alvardo’s first score of the season.
“She stepped up with a brilliant goal,” Ward said. “That was awesome.”
The game was scoreless for the rest of the afternoon, but that didn’t stop the action — particularly, on the Waves defensive side of the field. Seabert, the Waves’ captain, deflected Jayhawks’ shots by diving and leaping all around the net.
Ward said Seabert played a great game. “In a game like this, you have to be good,” the coach said. “She commanded her box well. That team was tall. I think they had four girls that were 5’9’’, 5’10’’, 6-foot. When you play a team that is really good in the air, you need a keeper that is not shy about coming out and getting balls. There is a reason she is one of the best keepers in our conference.”
Both squads had a few more opportunities to score in the contest, but the kicks were either deflected by defenders or off target. In total, Kansas had 23 scoring attempts to Pepperdine’s 18. Bri Visalli had five shots, Rylee Baisden four, Alvarado and Christina Settles had two and Ashley Buck, Danielle Thomas, Nicole Leggio, Megan Schoen and Michelle Maemone had one each.
Ward felt the Waves could have won the contest, but is glad they didn’t lose. The coach said the game had its highs and lows.
“We started flat, but then we came back,” Ward said. “They got a goal, then we got a goal. In the second half they were all over us for a 15-minute spell and we looked like we were going to concede a goal. Then, late in the game, we looked dangerous and in overtime we looked like we could have won it.”
Pepperdine’s season began last month with three straight wins over Arizona, Kentucky and Fresno State. Overall, the Waves outscored their opponents 9-1 in those contests. USC beat Pepperdine 3-0 in late August. The Waves’ fourth win of the year was a 1-0 victory over Maryland in overtime on Sept. 2. Pepperdine was beaten 2-0 by Virginia two days later. Pepperdine tied Cal State Northridge 0-0 on Sept. 11 and lost to UCLA 3-0 on Sept. 16.
Ward said he has been happy with his team’s play so far this year and believes the Waves only could have gotten a different result out of the loss to UCLA.
“UCLA — we wish we had that one back,” he said. “In the first half, we played excellent and had chances to be up one or two, but during a five-minute period in the second half we self-imploded.”
Pepperdine’s game against the Bruins, one of the top-ranked teams in the country, featured a scoreless first half. However, UCLA scored three times in five minutes in the second period to take a lead.
Pepperdine’s first conference opponent is Portland. They will also face Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara, San Diego, San Francisco, Loyola Marymount, Pacific and BYU — also ranked in the nation’s top 25 — in WCC play.
Ward said the Waves want to win another WCC crown and qualify for the NCAA tournament.
“We got to get after it, make our home games count and win games on the road,” he said.