Gonzaga and #3 Portland on Weekend Slate
10/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Week 9 – October 13 - 19, 2008
Friday, October 17 at Noon PT
Pepperdine (5-7-2, 0-1 WCC) at Gonzaga (5-7-2, 0-1 WCC)
Sunday, October 19 at Noon PT
Pepperdine (5-7-2, 0-1 WCC) at #3
WAVES LOOK TO END LOSING WAYS AT GONZAGA: Pepperdine heads to Spokane Friday afternoon for a noon meeting with recent West Coast Conference nemesis Gonzaga ... The Waves lead the all-time series against the Bulldogs, 10-4-1; however, all those losses have taken place over the last five years ... Pepperdine’s last win against the ‘Zags was a 3-0 home shutout in 2006, but the club hasn’t secured a victory in western Washington since 2002 ... Since starting the year 4-2, Gonzaga is one for its last eight with two scoreless ties ... The Bulldogs have scored nine goals this season while surrendering 18 ... All Gonzaga University home matches will be video streamed and available via Gametracker on the internet at gozags.com.
PEPPERDINE PREPARED TO BLOW OUT PILOT’S LIGHT: Portland is the third nationally ranked team Pepperdine has played this season and comes into this weekend ranked #3 in the NSCAA/adidas coaches poll and #1 in the RPI ... Earlier this season, the Waves topped #23 Tennessee, 2-0, and held #4 UCLA in check during a 1-0 loss at Drake Stadium ... The Pilots have not been kind to the Waves in their 14-year series history, winning 11 meetings ... Pepperdine’s two wins against Portland came in 1997 (1-0) and 2002 (2-0) ... The clubs tied at 1-1 during the 2005 campaign ... Portland is having another one of its typical remarkable seasons, scoring 40 goals while allowing only three ... Live stats of Sunday’s noon match can be found at portlandpilots.com.
WAVES WITHIN THE WEST COAST CONFERENCE (0-1-0): Pepperdine is projected to finish fifth in the WCC in 2008 according to the preseason poll voted on by the conference’s coaches ... Portland led the way with 49 points and seven first-place votes and were followed by Santa Clara with 42 points and one first-place vote ... The Waves, who are seeking their sixth NCAA Tournament bid in the last eight seasons, return eight starters and 14 letterwinners overall.
FINDING OFFENSE FROM DEFENSE: Sophomore defender Cammie Burke’s first career goal held up as the game-winner in Pepperdine’s 2-1 victory at Cal State Bakersfield last Wednesday ... Burke, who entered the match with one career point, delivered the goal off a corner kick deflection in the 56th minute ... Earlier in the match, senior midfielder Ashley Copp fired in the game-tying goal off a free kick in the 41st minute ... Both of Copp’s scores this season have come off set pieces ... Pepperdine’s win over the Roadrunners marked its first come-from-behind triumph of 2008.
WINNING EVERYTHING BUT THE GAME: Eight corner kicks, twenty-two shots and a few point-blank set pieces weren’t enough to earn Pepperdine a victory in its West Coast Conference season opener at Loyola Marymount last Saturday ... The Waves dropped the match in the 97th minute, 1-0, when Kelley Lawson’s first touch of the match resulted in the game-winner ... Pepperdine’s 22 shots tied a season high, matching its effort from a 6-0 victory against Idaho State on Sept. 26 ... Of those 22 shots, seven were placed on goal and all saved by LMU goalkeeper Allyssa Clark.
ACADEMIC All-AMERICA NOMINEES: Congratulations are in order for Ashley Copp, Kelly Reilly, Amanda Rupp and Kayla Stolte, all of whom were nominated earlier this week for Academic All-America ... This title, one of the most prestigious in all of college athletics, is sponsored by ESPN The Magazine and organized through CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America ... To be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at his/her current institution ... No student-athlete is eligible until he/she has completed one full calendar year at his/her current institution and has reached sophomore athletic eligibility.
200 SAVES FOR STOLTE: Kayla Stolte’s eight-save night against UCLA on Oct. 3 gave her 200-plus for her career ... Stolte currently ranks third all-time at Pepperdine with 208 career saves, trailing only Anna Picarelli (319) and Sumon Nicole (239) ... Earlier this season, Stolte passed Dianna Prince (187) and Lindsey Brouillette (170) for third and fourth place.
A MAGNIFICENT SEVEN: Senior Amanda Rupp posted one of the very best individual performances in the history of Pepperdine soccer with her seven-point outing vs. Idaho State on Sept. 26 ... Rupp’s single-game effort matched that of former Wave Katie Desmond, who totaled seven points against the The Master’s on Oct. 12, 1998 ... Rupp scored two goals and provided three assists against the Bengals, increasing her team-best point total to 18 ... Rupp also led the Waves in scoring in 2007 with 15 points ... Rupp’s two-goal game was the first of her career, and her three assists tied a Pepperdine record held by four players ... Prior to Rupp, Emily Wynne had been the last Wave to serve up three assists in match, accomplishing this feat against Gonzaga on Nov. 3, 2006.
WAVES AT TARI FRAHM ROKUS FIELD (4-3-1): The Waves are 101-34-17 (.720) in 15 seasons of playing at Tari Frahm Rokus Field, including a 4-3-4 mark in 2007 ... Pepperdine, which has yet to post a losing record at Rokus Field in any season, has recorded two unbeaten and four one-loss campaigns on its home pitch since the program’s inception in 1993 ... The Waves collected their 100th home victory on Sept. 14 with a 1-0 win over Washington State.
WAVES ON THE ROAD (1-4-1): Pepperdine won its first road match of the season last Wednesday at Cal State Bakersfield, snapping a seven-game road losing streak ... The Waves last road victory was a 2-1 triumph on Oct. 11, 2007 at UC Santa Barbara ... Pepperdine has been very competitive away from Tari Frahm Rokus Field in spite of its record with four contests this season decided by one goal ... The Waves also played to a scoreless tie at Marquette on Sept. 21.
WAVES CRASH AWARDS’ STAGE: Amanda Rupp and Lacey Heck received a slew of national awards the week of Sept. 15 as result of their efforts in victories against Tennessee (9/12) and Washington State (9/14) ... Rupp was one of five forwards nationally to be named to the Soccer Buzz Magazine Elite Team of the Week, and was one of three tabbed to the Soccer America Team of the Week ... Heck, a goalkeeper, was named Player of the Week by both TopDrawerSoccer.com and the West Coast Conference.
TICKETS FOR NEXT HOME GAME: Single-match tickets to all home women’s soccer games are $8 for adults, $5 for students and seniors and free to all Pepperdine students and faculty with an university ID ... Pepperdine’s next home match is Friday, Oct. 24 at 3 p.m. vs. San Diego.
PRIZED RECRUITS: Pepperdine’s recruiting class was ranked 34th in the nation (out of 320 programs) and ninth in the West Region (out of 49 teams) by Soccer Buzz Magazine ... Head coach Tim Ward’s 2008 recruiting class includes Soccer Buzz Top 100 recruit and defender Kelsea Smith as well as Top 200 recruits forward Laura Cole and defender/midfielder Myriah Stockman ... As a conference, the WCC ranked fourth (out of 31) in the Soccer Buzz conference team rankings behind only the ACC, Big Ten and Pac 10.
THE HEAD COACH: The Waves are 120-66-29 (.626) under the direction of Tim Ward, who has served as Pepperdine’s skipper since 1998 ... Under Ward, the Waves have made the NCAA Tournament in five of the last seven years ... Ward has been with Pepperdine from nearly the beginning, as the program was established in 1993 and he became an assistant coach in 1994 before being elevated to the head position in 1998.
THE WAVES’ TRI-CAPTAINS: For 2008, the team captains are junior goalkeeper Kayla Stolte, senior midfielder Ashley Copp and junior forward Courtney Price ... The tri-captains were voted to their current position by their teammates just weeks before the start of the 2008 spring season ... Their leadership helped the Waves rebound from a disappointing 5-8-6 record in 2007, by guiding the club to an 8-1 mark against its exhibition opponents.
PEPPERDINE HISTORY: The Waves have made five NCAA Tournament appearances in their 15-year history, with all of them coming in the last seven years ... Pepperdine advanced to the Sweet 16 in both 2002 and 2005 ... The Waves also captured a share of the 2002 WCC title.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE: Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won a total of nine NCAA championships in five different men’s sports — one of just 14 schools to have accomplished this feat. Of the 14, Pepperdine is the only non-BCS school and has by far the smallest enrollment. The majority of Pepperdine’s teams are ranked nationally year after year and compete for conference and national titles.
