By JeremyTammaro
Sports Assistant
Pepperdine women’s soccer doesn’t just keep winning, it keeps having fun at the same time.
And when the two come together the result is an undefeated 8-0-2 record and a No. 12 national ranking. That is where the Pepperdine women’s soccer team stands heading into its last weekend of non-conference play.
The Waves extended their non-conference regular season undefeated streak to 31 matches as they welcomed the Washington State University Cougars and the Southern Methodist University Mustangs to town this past weekend. Neither the Cougars on Friday nor the Mustangs on Sunday were pleased with the result.
The Cougars did a good job playing keep away until the 22nd minute when Waves sophomore forward Ali Pavoni scored her team-leading seventh goal of the season with a blast from inside the box to the far post for a 1-0 lead.
The play was set up though the air as freshman midfielder April Pettigrew headed the ball to senior midfielder Ann Desmond. Desmond followed suit and headed the ball into the box where Pavoni gained control and fired the ball into the back of the net.
“I just trapped it and just kind of got it in,” Pavoni said. “It was kind of lucky.”
Luck seems to follow Pavoni around when it comes to scoring. She leads the team with a .308 hitting percentage, scoring on eight of 26 shots this season.
“If (the shot) is there I will take it,” Pavoni said.
The second half showed that, as much as Pavoni has a knack for scoring, she is also capable of setting up her teammates.
In the 89th minute Pavoni found freshman forward Jenna Fodor in the open field. Fodor beat her defender and took a hard shot at the Washington State net. The Cougars’ goalkeeper was barely able to get a piece of it as she knocked it over her head and into the net for Fodor’s fourth goal of the season and the Waves’ final goal of the day.
The complete game shutout was junior goalkeeper Teresa Montano’s third of the season. She saved both shots on goal.
“Teresa did a good job blocking shots,” Waves Goalkeeper Coach Josh Green said. “It was nice to see the organization back there. The intensity was up and they did a good job working hard for each other.”
That same intensity and hard work paid off on Sunday as the Waves received an early test from the Mustangs, who came out strong in the first half.
SMU scored first on a shot by Mustangs sophomore forward Erin MacCallum in the seventh minute of the match. Mustangs junior forward Kim Harvey was credited with an assist on the play.
Less than a minute later came an unusual ultimatum from Waves Head Coach Tim Ward. He challenged the team to decide whether they came to play or to watch.
“It’s a choice,” Ward said, “do you want to battle or do you want to get your butt kicked? It is tough to sustain intensity for 90 minutes, and we just came out sort of flat.”
Ward is not certain that his challenge changed the way the women played, but the women stepped up.
Waves senior forward Kristi Bissonnette knotted the game at 1-1 in the 27th minute when she followed Fodor’s blocked shot.
“It deflected off the keeper’s hands and I just put it in,” Bissonnette said. “I was really excited.”
Bissonnette’s goal eased some of the tension going into halftime and allowed the Waves to loosen up a bit.
“We told them to play from the heart,” Assistant Coach Kristy Walker said about the halftime speech.
Pepperdine went on top for good in the 63rd minute when Pavoni headed in sophomore forward Jenna Ainsworth’s cross for her eighth goal of the season.
Three minutes later Pavoni tallied an assist as she sent a pass into the box for junior forward Lacey Ubaldi. Ubaldi beat her defender and headed the ball in to give the Waves a 3-1 lead.
“Ali set it up perfectly with a cross,” Ubaldi said. “I just had to be there and get my head on it.”
The Mustangs made the game interesting with a goal in the 82nd minute to cut the Waves lead to 3-2. Harvey scored the goal after a foul gave the Mustangs possession deep in Pepperdine territory. SMU continued to press but was unable to mount one final blow.
“We did a good job defensively handling the pressure they gave us late,” Walker said.
The West Coast Conference recognized Pavoni’s playmaking abilities when it named her and two other women “Player of the Week.” In both games she scored a goal and tallied an assist. This is the second time Pavoni has received the honor this season.
Pepperdine heads to Cal Poly on Friday before returning home Sunday to face San Diego State University.
October 03, 2002