Taylor Bird
Assistant Sports Editor
Women’s soccer blanks Tennessee and Washington State in conclusion of its seven-game homestand, climbing back to 3-3-1.
Freshman goalkeeper Lacey Heck’s seven saves propelled the Pepperdine women’s soccer team to a pair of shutouts last weekend in the final matches of its season-opening seven-game homestand. The Waves (3-3-1) blanked No.-23 Tennessee 2-0 on Friday, before securing a 1-0 victory Sunday against Washington State.
“It’s sort of been a long time coming,” said Waves’ Head Coach Tim Ward. “We’ve been playing good soccer. I think we’re getting better every performance.”
Pepperdine fought hard out of the gates Friday, scoring a goal just over a minute into the game. At 1:11, freshman forward Laura Cole fed the ball to junior forward Sophia ‘Bo’ Medina, who headed it off the crossbar. But, senior midfielder Samantha Hire was there to deliver her own header into the net to give the Waves an early 1-0 advantage.
“Games can be won and lost in the first minute or so of a match,” Ward said. “We learned that the hard way against Santa Barbara, but since then we’ve been much better at starting strong … that goal really lifted our team.”
This was Hire’s first goal of the season, and both Cole and Medina were credited with an assist.
The Waves held on to their slim lead until insurance was added in the 86th minute, when senior forward Amanda Rupp went one-on-one with Tennessee goalkeeper Jaimel Johnson and managed to slip the ball past Johnson’s right. This gave Rupp her team-best fourth goal and put Pepperdine ahead 2-0, slamming the door on any comeback aspirations for the Lady Vols (2-4).
Heck, filling in for injured senior Kayla Stolte, saved five to post a shutout in her first collegiate start.
Each team compiled 12 shots, and the Waves received two-shot efforts from Hire, Medina, Rupp, senior forward Emily Wynne and junior midfielder Kelly Reilly.
Sunday’s match was scoreless until the 57th minute, when Rupp brought the ball down the field and crossed it toward the goal from the sideline. Junior forward Alexis Farler got a piece of the ball before Medina fired it past Washington State goalkeeper Lindsay Parlee from the penalty area for the game’s only goal.
“It was great to get Bo [Medina] on the score sheet,” Ward said. “We needed something like that ¬— we spoke at halftime about how we needed someone to make a special play.”
The Cougars (2-2-3) struggled offensively throughout the match, managing just five shots to the Waves’ 18.
Heck blocked both of Washington State’s shots on goal, the first by defender Caitlin Bonney at 1:40 and the other by forward Kiersten Dallstream at 87:38. Rupp and senior midfielder Ashley Copp led the Waves with four shots apiece, while Cole, Reilly and Wynne each added two shots.
Senior defender Kelsey Baker attributed the weekend’s success to Ward, who last week had his team work on taking advantage of set pieces and playing consistently for 90 minutes.
“Our coach did a good job of really looking at weaknesses we had the previous weekends,” Baker said. “We really focused on those areas of practice, and we’re stronger and more focused in those areas.
On Monday, Heck was honored for her strong showings against Tennessee and Washington State by being named West Coast Conference Player of the Week.
The Waves will play their first road games of the season this weekend, as they will travel to the Midwest to square off against Wisconsin (4-2-1) tomorrow and Marquette (4-3) on Sunday.
“We’re really looking forward to a change of scenery,” Baker said. “We love Malibu and playing at home, but it’s going to be good for us to test … if we can play like that somewhere else. That’s going to prepare us for down the road.”
09-18-2008
