JANE LEE
Sports Assistant
After making the most out of Senior Day on Saturday, in which the No.-17 Pepperdine women’s soccer team upset No.-6 Santa Clara 1-0, the Waves received a bid Monday to the NCAA Championships for the fifth year in a row.
Pepperdine will travel to Nashville, Tenn., and will face Mississippi in the first round of the 64-team tournament Friday.
“We are looking to dominate the Music City,” said freshman Emily Wynne. “We want to show the East Coast what West Coast soccer is all about. We’re looking to get some Ws, two to be exact.”
As the No.-4 seed in its quadrant, the Waves are surrounded by teams such as No.-1 North Carolina, No.-2 Florida State and No.-3 California.
The Waves finished fourth in the West Coast Conference with a 3-2-2 record and an overall mark of 13-3-3, while Mississippi went 14-4-2, including an 8-1-2 mark in the Southeastern Conference en route to winning the SEC West Division title.
“East Coast soccer is different than West Coast soccer,” Wynne said. “They play more direct than we do. We’re looking to hopefully dominate them with our pretty style of soccer.”
Friday’s meeting will mark the third time the two schools have met, and Pepperdine leads the series 1-0-1.
The match will also mark the fourth consecutive NCAA appearance for six Wave seniors. Forwards Megan Woods and Jenna Fodor, midfielders Kelsey Quane and Lisa Steepleton, defender Daniella Bosio and goalkeeper Anna Picarelli represent the second group of Pepperdine seniors to appear in four NCAA tournaments.
During their four-year careers, the senior Waves have compiled an overall record of 54-18-9, claimed one conference title and appeared in the Top 25 all four years.
Host Tennessee State, Nashville will play Samford University in the other first-round match with the two winners meeting Sunday. The winner of Sunday’s contest will advance to the third round and play the winner of the North Carolina bracket.
Behind the incredible saves of Picarelli and a late goal by Fodor, Pepperdine ended its regular season with a 1-0 win over Santa Clara on Saturday afternoon at Tari Frahm Rokus Field.
“I thought we played with a lot of heart,” Wynne said. “We were stringing passes together pretty well and had a good rhythm. We did well to represent our school against the nationally ranked Broncos.”
Both teams shared control of the ball during the first half. The Broncos took 11 shots, but the Waves forbid Santa Clara any goals as the half ended scoreless.
In the second half, Pepperdine increased its momentum as the Waves continually dominated Bronco territory to challenge the defense and create offensive plays exhausting Santa Clara.
To limit the Bronco offense, the Waves dropped eight position players back in support of the keeper, leaving only two forwards up front for potential attacks.
As the Broncos pressed for the potential game-winner in the late stages of the match, the Waves gained a counter-attack opportunity when an attempted clearing pass resulted in a Santa Clara foul after Bosio and Woods charged the goal.
Fodor drilled the ball in the net to cash in on the penalty kick and lift the Waves to a one-goal lead at the 80:09 mark.
The Broncos attempted to even the score and attacked Pepperdine in the net, but Picarelli denied Santa Clara any chance of a goal as she dove from one side of the net to the other to knock the ball away and give the Waves the win.
The last time Pepperdine defeated Santa Clara was in 2001 when the Waves topped the second-ranked Broncos 1-0 in overtime.
Picarelli, who was named the WCC Player of the Week, picked up her sixth shutout of the season and registered a season-high 12 saves in the match, while Fodor registered her fifth goal and fifth game-winning goal of the season.
11-10-2005