There was the two-goal game against a quasi-hometown team, then the hat trick against a formidable conference foe. Don’t forget the game-winning score in the waning minutes of a postseason match.
Bri Visalli, her feet adorned in highlighter-colored cleats, kicked and scored her way to a memorable season, while leading the Pepperdine women’s soccer team to a 14-3-3 record, a second consecutive West Coast Conference title and the second round of the NCAA tournament. However, the midfielder, who graduated from Pepperdine this month, did more than net goals. Visalli was a team leader and captain, scored high grades in the classroom and was a community volunteer.
She is The Malibu Times’ Athlete of the Year as a result.
Visalli, 22, said the key to her excellent 2017 season, at least on the soccer field, was her relationship with fellow Waves.
“My team was my family,” she said. “What made me so successful in that environment was my team. I valued all my relationships with my teammates. I think that dictated my success—that family structure with the team.”
Visalli scored 14 goals in 21 games, tied for the second-best lone-season goal total in Pepperdine history. The right-footer’s scoring kicks, which managed to place the ball in the back of the net despite the efforts of defenders, came from various positions on the pitch, including six penalty kicks.
Visalli’s scoring knack placed her tops in almost every WCC offensive category and led to her snagging a plethora of honors, including WCC Player of the Year, All-West Region and All-WCC first-team honoree and a second-team All-American status. She was also a semifinalist for the Missouri Athletic Club MAC (Missouri Athletic Club) Hermann Trophy, awarded to college soccer’s best player.
The economics major was named to the Scholar All-American first-team and the WCC All-Academic and CoSIDA Academic All-District teams, thanks to her 3.81 grade point average.
Pepperdine coach Tim Ward said Visalli had one of the best seasons a Wave has ever had.
“Her performance on the field in terms of her productivity was amazing, and much deserved, because she worked very hard,” he said. “Equally important is what she did off the field. Her leadership—she is a two-year captain—the way she conducts her life. It’s pretty inspiring.”
Visalli put the onus on herself to be a bigtime scorer for Pepperdine after an early season injury to freshman forward Devyn Gilfoy, who kicked four goals in four games.
“It was something I was determined to make sure happened,” said Visalli, who scored six goals in 2016. “I knew once we got on the board, the other pieces would follow.”
Her first goal was in Pepperdine’s third game. Visalli scored on a penalty kick two games later. In the ninth contest, the Wave scored two goals. Visalli scored her fifth goal in a victory over San Francisco. The Bay Area-native scored twice in the next game against Santa Clara. Visalli had three goals against BYU, two games later. She netted three goals in the regular season’s last four games.
Visalli’s favorite score, her 14th, was the contest-winner she kicked in the initial round of the NCAA tourney. In the 87th minute of Pepperdine’s match against Cal State Fullerton, Visalli launched the ball from outside the goalkeeper’s box and it dipped into the upper-right corner of the net.
“I remember getting the ball and saying, ‘This is going in the dang net,’” Visalli said.
She usually punctuated her goals by her hugging a teammate in celebration, but against CSF, Visalli bounded three or four times before embracing another Wave because she was so happy.
“It was an awesome experience,” she said.
Visalli was miffed when defenses began to “man mark” her, assigning a specific player to guard her rather than cover an area on the field, but she knew it would open scoring opportunities for her talented teammates.
“When they would do that you would see other players shine,” said the 5-foot-2 scorer, who also embraced playing physical in opposition’s penalty boxes. Defenders fouled Visalli six times while she was in the goalkeeper’s zone. That resulted in her taking and making a Pepperdine single-season record of penalty kicks.
Visalli, seven-for-seven in penalty kicks over four years of college, concluded her Pepperdine career with 25 goals—including 14 game-winners—10 assists and 60 total points. She is in the Pepperdine record books in several offensive categories.
Ward said Visalli put the Waves on the scoreboard in all types of ways.
“So calm, so composed, so clinical,” he said. “She is one of our great match winners.”
The coach said Visalli’s successful 2017 campaign began in Pepperdine’s spring season when she recorded the max score of 25 in the team’s version of the Manchester United Fitness Test, a challenge that features players sprinting 100 yards multiple times in a set amount of time.
Increasing her score in the professional soccer workout by four points made Visalli feel she could lead Pepperdine.
“I just told myself that to be a leader, you had to be able to push yourself mentally and physically as far as you can,” she said. “Otherwise, why would you ask your friends and teammates to do the same?”
She said letting her fellow Waves know she cared about them was a big ingredient in her soccer game.
“The most effective way for a leader to lead a team is to be a servant leader,” she said. “Many people don’t see the time spent getting coffee with someone or trying to hear out their problems. That is important.”
Ward said Visalli’s development from the fiery competitor he watched compete at a high school soccer showcase to a humble senior leader with a drive to win was beautiful.
“Her growing up here was really fun to watch,” he said.
Visalli, a fan of good food and coffee, working out, the beach, and Disneyland, also enjoys community service. She organized Pepperdine student athletes’ participation in the Malibu Boardriders Club and Ride-A-Wave’s “Day at the Beach” event for three years. The event featured special needs youth kayaking and surfing in the ocean with the assistance of volunteers. The Waves were the kids’ buddies and cheerleaders for the day.
Visalli participated in a similar event organized by Ride-A-Wave in Santa Cruz while she was in high school, and sought it out when she came to Malibu.
“It’s really rewarding to a child that is wheelchair bound surfing,” she said. “To see the smiles on their faces is the coolest thing.”
Visalli is now preparing for her professional soccer career. She wants to be picked in January’s National Women’s Soccer League draft. If not, she will play overseas. Ward expects his four-year player to excel wherever she ends up.
Visalli hopes Pepperdine fans, coaches and teammates remember her as a player that invested in and cared about everyone.
“Someone that was going to genially give her best in everything,” she said. “Not just soccer.”
