JANE LEE
Sports Assistant
Anna Picarelli said every game in the NCAA tournament requires a “give it everything you have” mentality.
The senior goalkeeper and the rest of the Pepperdine women’s soccer team will need all that and more when they face 17-time national champion and second-ranked North Carolina (22-1-0) in the “Sweet 16” Saturday.
With wins over Mississippi and Samford last weekend, the Waves (14-3-3) advanced to the Sweet 16 for only the second time in school history, the first being in 2002.
“Playing in the tournament is as exciting as it gets,” Picarelli said. “Making it to the Sweet 16 is a great accomplishment, but it’s only the next step on our road to the Final Four.”
In their fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, the Waves opened play with a 1-0 win over Mississippi in a first-round match Friday in Nashville, Tenn.
Junior forward Lindsey Redlin scored the lone goal of the match to lift the Waves to victory and advance the team to the second round.
After playing the ball back and forth during most of the first half, Mississippi turned the ball over to the Waves, allowing senior forward Megan Woods to dribble down the left side of the field where she found Redlin in the center. With no Rebel defenders in sight, Redlin controlled the pass and drilled the ball into the net to put the Waves on top 1-0 at the 38:08 mark.
Preventing the Rebels from scoring as Ole Miss took shot after shot, Pepperdine continued to pressure to secure the win and move to the second round.
Picarelli, who had four saves in the match, registered her seventh shutout of the season.
The Waves recorded 13 shots, including six shots on goal. Redlin and senior Daniella Bosio led the team with four shots each in the game.
Two days later, behind two goals from Woods, Pepperdine defeated Samford 2-0 in the second round of the tournament.
The Waves dominated the ball through much of the first half in Bulldog territory, as Woods, Redlin and senior forward Jenna Fodor pressured the defense and attacked the goal from both sides of the net.
At the 38:41 mark freshman midfielder Emily Wynne passed the ball to the center, where Woods took control and drove the ball past Samford goalie Cayley Winters to put the Waves on the board.
Pepperdine continued to control the ball in the final minutes as the Waves led 1-0 and outshot the Bulldogs 14-7 by halftime.
The Bulldogs stepped up their defense in the second half and were able to take possession of the ball, but once again Picarelli and the Waves’ defense kept them from knocking in a goal.
As the ball went back in favor of the Waves, Woods charged down the field where she was fouled in the box and awarded a penalty kick. She easily drove the ball in the back of the net at the 71:19 mark to boost the Waves’ lead by two goals and secure the victory.
“We are incredibly proud of the way our girls have represented Pepperdine this entire season,” Head Coach Tim Ward said. “I think our recent string of great results is us reaping ‘the fruits of labor’ so to speak.”
While Pepperdine held a 24-17 shot advantage in the match, Picarelli registered five saves and picked up her eighth shutout of the season. The Waves have shut-out their opponents in four of their last five games, and for the first time in program history Pepperdine has posted two consecutive shutouts in the postseason.
“I think our team’s key to success is our great chemistry on and off the field,” Picarelli said. “Our team has the biggest hearts in the country, and I think our passion to work hard for one another brings us our greatest accomplishments.
“We just have to take it game by game and use the momentum from our last two wins to keep it going.”
The Waves will face national powerhouse North Carolina on Saturday at the Tarheels’ Fetzer Field at 3 p.m.
Facing a team like North Carolina, which has produced soccer phenoms such as Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly in the past, may seem like a daunting task, but Ward and the Waves are more than ready for the challenge.
“Going to North Carolina is going to be tough, no doubt, but we don’t foresee it being any tougher than our matches against UCLA, Portland or Santa Clara, and we finished those matches 1-1-1 with a chance to win in each of them,” Ward said. “That is our aim when we go to North Carolina — to play in such a way as to ‘win the prize.’”
Being the underdog sometimes has its advantages, Ward said. “We are going to continue to focus on the things that have led to our recent success and do everything in our power to keep winning.”
“Our team goal from day one was to get to the Final Four and this group plans on doing it,” he said.
Whatever happens, though, Ward is sure of one thing.
“We are going to enjoy this adventure as it is not every day you get a chance to knock off UNC in the NCAA Tournament,” he said.
11-17-2005