Only four minutes were left on the game clock on Nov. 11 when Pepperdine’s leading scorer broke open a game knotted at zero and propelled the Waves soccer team to the next round of the NCAA tournamentÂ
Waves’ senior midfielder Bri Visalli, positioned outside the box, struck the ball past Cal State Fullerton’s goalkeeper into the right corner of the net in the 87th minute giving Pepperdine a 1-0 lead and eventual win over the visiting Titans in the first-round tournament matchup.
Visalli’s game-winning kick, her 14th goal of the season, propelled Pepperdine to the second round of the tourney, officially known as the 2017 Women’s College Cup. The Waves, ranked 11th in the country, will play 12th-ranked Virginia on Friday at UCLA at 5 p.m. The winner will take on the victor of the UCLA/Northwestern contest.
Visalli’s kick was her sixth game-winner of the season, a Pepperdine record. The score was assisted by senior midfielder Meagan Harbison.
The triumph over Cal State Fullerton bookended a week for the 15-2-3 Waves that featured them garnering a litany of awards from the West Coast Conference, the conference they won this season with an 8-0-1 record.
Visalli was named the conference’s player of the year, junior goalkeeper Brielle Preece was named goalkeeper of the year, junior defender Hailey Harbison, Meagan’s sister, was named defensive player of the year and coach Tim Ward was named coach of the year for the second straight season and fifth time in his career. The junior Haribson, Visalli and Preece were named to the All-WCC first team. Meagan Harbison, freshman forward Joelle Anderson, junior midfielder Christina Settles and senior defender Jamie Van Horn were named to the All-WCC second team. Anderson and Calista Reyes were named to the WCC all-freshman team.Â
Visalli was also named to the CoSIDA Academic all-district second team—her third CoSIDA honor.Â
