Photos by Sylvia Hartley
The Wells Fargo PCH Cup soccer game finished with a Pepperdine win, 3-1 against LMU. This is the fifth conference win for the No. 12 Waves, putting our team in a position to contend for second in conference. Their near-record winning season is 14-2-3 over and 5-1-2 in WCC play. The home rivalry game against LMU was settled with a swift defeat, as the Waves outshot the Lions 12-7.
“I believe our greatest strength this season is the belief we have in what we are doing,” sophomore goalkeeper Hannah Seabert said. “In the beginning of the year we set goals for ourselves and decided how we would achieve those goals. Every game and practice we reiterate those to ourselves. When we are faced with adversity we say: ‘Remember what we are playing for.’ We all believe in all of our teammates and the dreams that we are striving for individually and together.”
Seabert is in her sophomore season after taking over as a freshman in the goal and playing all 19 games. In her rookie year she posted 114 saves, the second highest in school history. She climbed to number one in WCC rankings for save percentage, total saves and saves per game. This year Seabert tops the charts in saves percentage, goals against average and shutouts, but there is one major difference. She tore her right quad in the last game before conference play this season.
“This has been my most serious injury, but I needed to play a week later,” Seabert said. “I couldn’t jump, accelerate off of and especially kick with my right…I have had a great recovery time and am almost perfectly mobile. I definitely grew as a player through this, learning to play injured and improving certain aspects of my game like kicking more proficiently with my left foot and throwing stronger and more accurately.”
The Waves defense had a near-perfect shut down game, with one goal scored against the Waves in the 78th minute. The final stats showed a 10-6 advantage on shot on the goal by defense and 22-14 shooting advantage up field.
Offensively, WCC leader in shots and shots per game, senior Lynn Williams, scored her 12th goal of the season in the 34th minute. Sophomore Colby Carsen scored two minutes later with her second goal this season and senior Kristine Hilliard finished off the Lions with her first goal of the season in the second half.
“This team has a fighting spirit that never gives up,” Head Coach Tim Ward said in an email. ”We’ve been up against it quite a bit this fall but have found ways to battle, compete and get it done for the university.”
The Waves will host BYU in the final game of conference play on Saturday at 1 p.m. If the Waves pull off another win and Santa Clara falls to Saint Mary’s, the Waves will ascend to No. 2 in the WCC with hopes of taking the postseason by storm.
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Follow Stasia Demick on Twitter: @sdemick12
