Noah Godwin
Assistant Sports Editor
Photo courtesy Athletic Dept.
Senior Ashley Swanson and the rest of the Waves will face No. UCLA on Friday.
The 24th–ranked Pepperdine women’s soccer team has one of its toughest matches of the year tomorrow night when it travels to play UCLA at Drake Stadium.
The Bruins are ranked ninth in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America after a 5-2 start to the season. UCLA beat the Waves last year 2-0 in Malibu during the regular season and won 2-0 again when the teams met in the second round of the NCAA tournament. UCLA leads the all-time series 6-2.
“We’re optimistic. UCLA is obviously very good, especially at home, but we know that if we play our best we’ll have a chance to win,” Head Coach Tim Ward said. So far, nothing has been able to slow down the Pepperdine women’s soccer team in the midst of one of the best starts in school history. Well, almost nothing.
Lightning forced the cancellation of Pepperdine’s match against University of Idaho on Sunday. Large flashes in the skies over Moscow, Idaho, brought the match to an end in the 57th minute with the Waves leading 2-1. For a match to count, it must reach at least the 70th minute of regulation play.
“I think everybody wanted to play, but the weather was a mess,” freshman midfielder McKenzie Hill said.
Junior forward Megan Woods gave the Waves a 1-0 lead with her goal in the 24th minute. The unassisted goal was a high shot that soared above the goalkeeper’s reach and found the back of the net. Jenna Fodor, also a junior forward for Pepperdine, made the score 2-0 with her goal in the 28th minute. Fodor scored on a penalty kick. However, because the match did not last the required 70 minutes, neither the outcome nor the statistics will count toward the season totals.
Idaho got on the scoreboard with an indirect kick from the Vandels’ Sarah April in the 50th minute. “It was really one of the strangest games I’ve ever seen,” Ward said. “The officials made some calls that were to me totally bizarre, but the call to end the game was the right one.”
Officials suspended play shortly after halftime for about 25 minutes before resuming. Several minutes later, the skies were filled once again with lightning deemed too close to the field to safely continue play.
“Even though the game didn’t officially count, it was a good experience for us,” Ward said. “The field was wet, and the grass was long, which will be the conditions when we go to play at Portland and at Gonzaga.”
The Waves’ record remains 5-1-1 following the cancellation of the Idaho match. The first loss of the season came Friday afternoon against Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. The 1-0 defeat marked both the first loss and the first goal given up this season by the Waves. The lone goal of the match came on a 20-yard free kick in the 12th minute by Washington State senior midfielder Megan Cecchini.
Pepperdine’s pattern of being the more aggressive defensive team in all of their matches this season was broken by a Cougars squad that limited the Waves to only eight shots in the match. Washington State was called for 20 fouls in the match as it kept constant pressure on the Waves.
Pepperdine, in contrast, was only called for nine fouls in the match, but that wasn’t the only sign that the Waves were not the most physically aggressive team. Washington also took 10 more shots than the Waves in the match.
Junior goalkeeper Anna Picarelli’s school record for consecutive shutouts is now over. Her six games without allowing a goal to start the season has put her at the top of Pepperdine’s list of all-time shutouts with 21.
Picarelli set the single-season Pepperdine record last year with 10.5 shutouts. Her goals-against average (GAA) of 0.66 is also tops in Pepperdine history. Her GAA of 0.14 this season and her shutout percentage of 0.86 are currently best in the country.
“Picarelli made a great save on a penalty kick against Washington State, and the officials didn’t give Megan Woods a penalty kick when she was tackled in the box,” Hill said.
“The way we played, we didn’t deserve to win, but we didn’t deserve to lose either,” Ward said.
The Waves will have a home match Sunday against Arizona State University before going back on the road to face its next four opponents. Arizona State has played the Waves twice and has never won. Pepperdine leads the series 1-0-1. Pepperdine does not have another home match until Oct. 22, when it faces Saint Mary’s College.
09-23-2004