By Josh Fleer
Sports Assistant
A bruising victory over then-No. 2 Stanford ended Pepperdine’s short stint out of the top 10 and warmed the Waves up for the physical play they’ll face this weekend against Southern teams with the reputation of rough competition.
“These are two big interregional games,” said Head Coach Tim Ward, whose team earned a No. 7 ranking this week from Soccer America. “They are really important because the rest of the country looks at these games. It’s big for us and it’s big for our region.”
The Waves travel to the University of Las Vegas, Nevada (UNLV) where they will face No. 13 Auburn University on Friday and Virginia Commonwealth University on Sunday at the UNLV/Fila Classic. These meetings will represent the third consecutive series to start the season that the Waves face a nationally ranked team.
“Auburn will be a physically tough game like Wisconsin and Michigan were last year,” said junior forward Ali Pavoni, who added a goal and an assist in the weekend’s games. “The Midwest and Southern teams are generally more physical unlike the SoCal teams that pass more and are more skill-oriented. We’re focusing on quickness, getting the ball and turning and working on two-touch.”
The Waves climbed back into the top 10 with a 7-0 victory over San Jose State and an upset over previously No. 2 Stanford, 1-0.
Freshman Jen Brewer came up big in both games, earning The Graphic’s Pepperdine Waves Athlete of the Week as well as WCC Player of the Week.
In just her third collegiate game, and after a recent shift from defender to forward, the freshman provided an offensive outburst, recording a hat trick against San Jose State and scoring the game-winning goal against Stanford. Only two other Pepperdine players have registered a hat trick, Kristi Bissonette (2001) and Jennifer Evans (five times from 1993-1995).
Before the game against San Jose State, Ward moved junior Diana Sanguinetti from midfielder to defense, permitting sophomore Daniella Bosio to shift over to right back and allowing Brewer to move up as a forward.
The move provides the Waves with a bigger, stronger presence in Brewer to complement their quick and mobile forwards.
And it provided immediate results.
Pepperdine rode Brewer’s hot foot from Friday straight into the game Sunday as she scored the lone goal of the game, lifting Pepperdine over Stanford.
“Playing Stanford was an absolute war,” said Ward of the game that totaled 24 penalties in the first half alone. “That was one of the best teams I’ve seen since I’ve been here. They’ll bounce back.”
Along with Brewer, sophomore goalkeeper Anna Picarelli starred in the weekend series, allowing no goals with 14 saves over the two games including 11 in the close game against Stanford in which Pepperdine was out-shot 18-5.
However, after watching the tape of the game, Ward credits the lopsided statistic to Stanford’s home field scoring.
“They had three or four shots that were of any danger,” said Ward, “most of them were coming from way outside. The scorekeeper was being very liberal.”
Senior Lacey Ubaldi, sophomore Megan Woods and sophomore Jenna Fodor also contributed goals in the match against San Jose State.
Woods added three assists, while senior Janelle Hillseth and Fodor each recorded two.
“We need to keep up what we’re doing and play with a lot of heart,” said Brewer, “and we should do well this weekend.”
Auburn is 3-0 on the season and coming off an overtime victory over University of Illinois Sunday.
They are led by two-time Third Team All-American junior goalkeeper Megan Rivera, giving the Waves back-to-back games in which they will face one of the nation’s top keepers. Stanford’s junior Nicole Barnhardt was selected First Team All-American last season.
Virginia Commonwealth (2-1) is coming off a double-overtime loss to Boston College, and is ranked No. 20 by NSCAA/adidas.
September 11, 2003