Pepperdine Women’s Soccer huddles together after a victory over Saint Mary’s on Oct. 7, at Tari Frahm Rokus Field. Women’s Soccer is ranked No. 2 in a WCC preseason coaches poll for the 2025 season. File photo by Mary Elisabeth
The Women’s Soccer team had a historic season last year – but they’re ready to fight for more.
“Our girls are hungry for more. We want to be, and we have to get better,” Head Coach Tim Ward said. “We have to keep reaching for higher, loftier goals, and try to do things that have yet to be done with our program, and we’re excited about that – we’re excited about that challenge.”
Pepperdine won a share of the West Coast Conference (WCC) with Santa Clara last year before punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. This time around, the Waves want to clinch the conference title all by themselves as outright champions, members of the team said.
“We haven’t won our own WCC. We always have a co-championship with another team,” Junior forward Julia Quinonez said. “So, I think we are just focusing on our team and how we can get better and work toward our goals.”
Team 33
This year’s team is dubbed “Team 33,” referring to it being the 33rd team in program history. Team 32 made history, but Ward said he knows he can’t treat this year’s team the exact same.
There have been a handful of changes to the roster. Eight players left the Waves, with a mix being graduating students and transfers, and eight true freshmen were recruited to Pepperdine for the Class of 2029. No matter the players on his squad, Ward said he has the same mission: to win it all.
“The energy changes, the dynamic changes, the leadership changes slightly, and it’s fun,” Ward said. “We, as a program, want to do things that no team at Pepperdine has ever done and on the positive side of the record book. We want to go back to back.”
Ward said there has only been one team to go back to back as conference champions. That run was in 2016 and 2017, and this year’s team wants to write their names in the history books.
That all starts with the players. Six of the incoming freshmen are field players, and the other two are goalkeepers, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Each freshman is native to California besides Bella Larson, who is coming in from Flower Mound, Texas, and Hattie Sherlock, who is coming overseas from Great Bookham, England. Sherlock is the first international recruit for the Waves in a decade since Kristrun Antonsdottir came from Iceland in 2015, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
“We’re going to be getting so many new freshmen, it’s going to be tough, but honestly, it’s just going to be a new opportunity to show off what we have and what a lot of people don’t see in us,” Quinonez said.
Midfielder Julianna Duckett (’24) helps forward Julia Quinonez celebrate her first WCC goal Oct. 4, 2023 at Tari Frahm Rokus Field. Many players have said the team has always felt like family. File photo by Mary Elisabeth
While this influx of fresh players may provide somewhat of a transitional challenge, junior defender Peyton Leonard said the team is confident in their ability to work together.
“There’s not really division with the classes. I think it is so cohesive, and everyone hangs out with everyone, which I think is something that is so amazing and that not a lot of teams have,” Leonard said.
There were also some key players that graduated from the team, leaving some big boots to fill. Forward and midfielder Tori Waldeck is one of these former Waves, who has recently decided to continue her soccer career professionally with Spokane Zephyr FC, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
“It does change the identity routine, but the core still stays the same,” Senior midfielder Karina Gonzalez said. “I’m super excited to see people step into new roles and take on more of a responsibility on the team, and be able to be that impact player and kind of not live in the shadows of someone, but be someone by themselves, with the team supporting them.”
Looking Toward 2025
The Waves are also showing high preseason rankings across the board. Pepperdine was ranked No. 2 in a WCC preseason coaches poll, earning five votes for first place – just two votes behind No. 1 Santa Clara, according to the WCC.
Gonzalez and junior forward and midfielders Tabitha LaParl and Tatum Wynalda were named to the WCC preseason all-conference team, according to Pepperdine Soccer’s Instagram. Gonzalez and LaParl were also named to the Midfielders Watch List by United Soccer Coaches. Gonzalez was even ranked No. 41 in Top Drawer Soccer’s Women’s National Top 100 Division I Players for the year.
“I think that’s such an honor and a blessing,” Gonzalez said. “I couldn’t have done this without my teammates who pushed me every day. I want to use that to continue to motivate me and inspire me and my team.”
One of the goals Ward said he has set for his team during preseason is to be the fittest they can be. Ward has found that not only does this benefit his current players, but it helps former Waves go on to join professional leagues and be at an elite level fitness wise.
With that in mind, Ward has weaved fitness into his team’s style of play: hard on the attack and the press while also balancing a healthy lifestyle to bring excitement to the pitch.
“The women we recruit, they understand the sacrifice that is needed to be great on the field,” Ward said. “So, there’s just a standard. The standard is: you come in fit.”
Ward has been the head coach since 1998, and he said there is a high correlation between the fitness of his team and the success they have in the fall. With this in mind, Ward said many of the players are putting in the work year round to prepare for season.
“These girls are getting after it every single day, and we’re really proud of the work they do that’s never seen,” Ward said.
Live and Learn
Last year Pepperdine lost to Utah State 0-4 in their season opener. While they grew stronger as the season progressed, Team 33 wants to come out with a bang.
“I’m just excited to be back with the team and prepare for preseason, for conference,” Quinonez said. “We have so much more talent. It’s going to be a great year, I’m so excited.”
The Pepperdine Waves and University of California, Berkeley Golden Bears lined up as they await the start of the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Nov. 16 at Tari Frahm Rokus Field. The Waves came into this affair as the West Coast Conference Champions. File photo by Colton Rubsamen
Women’s soccer is one of the first sports to get underway at Pepperdine for the year. Along with men’s water polo and women’s volleyball, it falls on the fall sports to set the tone for the year, Ward said.
“We always feel a responsibility to start the fall season really strong for the university,” Ward said.
Overall, the players said they are excited for a new season to kick off, and Ward said Team 33 will definitely be something special. The Waves are hoping to get started on a better foot this year.
The fall campaign will officially kick off at No. 9 Texas Christian University on Aug. 14. The Waves wrapped up preseason prep with a 1-0 win over Cal Poly in an Aug. 9 exhibition match. Pepperdine is looking to start with a strong win against TCU to set the tone for their next matches against powerhouses University of Southern California and UC Berkeley.
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