Taylor Bird
Assistant Sports Editor
The first road trip of the season proved fruitless for the Pepperdine women’s soccer team last weekend, as the Waves dropped a 3-1 contest at Wisconsin on Friday before battling to a scoreless tie versus Marquette on Sunday. Friday’s loss snapped a two-game win streak for Pepperdine, and the team’s record now stands at 3-4-2.
The Badgers (5-2-1) took an early lead on Friday, courtesy of midfielder Sheri Ferron’s goal in the 16th minute that put Wisconsin on top at 1-0. Later in the half, at 33:54, Waves freshman goalkeeper Lacey Heck blocked a scoring attempt by midfielder Erin Jacobson, but forward Darcy Riley was there to pick up the rebound for Wisconsin’s second point.
Pepperdine’s offense, which fired both of its first-half shots before Ferron’s goal, could not get anything going the rest of the period and headed into halftime trailing by two.
“We were working hard, and there was a moment when we switched off,” said junior forward Alexis Farler. “Then they got a goal on us, and everyone knows a goal kind of breaks the spirit.”
Just before the 60-minute mark, Waves senior midfielder Emily Wynne delivered the team’s first and only shot on goal of the day. But, Badgers goalkeeper Jamie Klages picked up the save to keep Pepperdine off the board.
The Badgers scored again in the 66th minute, when Jacobson capitalized on a penalty kick to push the Wisconsin lead to 3-0.
The Waves weren’t finished, though, as senior Amanda Rupp went one-on-one with Klages at 75:53 and won the breakaway to bring Pepperdine within two, at 3-1, for her team-best fifth goal. But, this proved to be too little, too late, and the Waves settled for their fourth loss of the season in their first match away from Malibu.
Both Heck and senior Kayla Stolte, who took over at goalkeeper in the second half, picked up one save. Wynne led the Waves with three shots, while Rupp, senior defender Ashley Copp and junior forward Sophia Medina all added one shot.
Pepperdine was unable to crack the Wisconsin defense, which limited the Waves to a single shot on goal and just three corner kicks.
Head Coach Tim Ward said his team’s level of play in Friday’s match might have been affected by a “nightmare of a travel day” on Thursday. According to Ward, the players had to wake up at 3 a.m. Thursday morning, but they didn’t arrive in Wisconsin until around 1:30 a.m. Friday morning.
“It was the first game all year I’ve been disappointed in the energy level of the team,” Ward said. “We had to find a way to rise up, and we just didn’t do it.”
Sunday’s match opened with both Pepperdine and Marquette (5-3-1) struggling to find an offensive rhythm, but the Golden Eagles took a 5-2 shot advantage into halftime.
The Waves picked up the pace in the second period, as they notched four shots in the first 15 minutes of the half. But, Marquette goalkeeper Natalie Kulla blocked both of Pepperdine’s second-half shots on goal to force overtime.
Rupp provided a shot on goal in each of the two overtime periods, but Kulla and the Marquette defense came up with saves in both attempts. Stolte blocked the Golden Eagles’ final push with less than two minutes left to play, when she blocked a shot on frame by forward Rosie Malone-Povolny, and the match ended in a scoreless tie.
“We definitely had some opportunities, [but] I think that Marquette did a really good job with bunkering in,” Farler said. “It was just kind of one of those games.”
In her first start since suffering an injury on Sept. 6, Stolte wrapped up the match with two saves to post her second shutout of the season.
“Kayla and our defense did an awesome job,” Ward said. “We’re really proud of their performance on Sunday … [Marquette] is a team that can definitely go to the NCAA Tournament.”
The Waves return home tomorrow to host Idaho State (3-6-2) for a 3 p.m. match-up at Tari Frahm Rokus Field. On Sunday, they will travel down the 405 to take on UC Irvine (4-5) at 5 p.m. in the opener of a six-game road trip.
“The spirit of this team and the character of this team is awesome,” Ward said. “Our record may not be what we want it to be, but we still feel like we have a great team. Everyone has a really positive attitude.”
09-25-2008
