Women's Soccer Hosts Final Two Regular-Season Home Games
10/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
This Week: The Pepperdine women's soccer team hosts its final two regular-season home games of the year this week, with a pair of West Coast Conference matchups. The Waves welcome Gonzaga on Friday for a 3 p.m. game and then host Portland on Sunday at 1 p.m. for senior day.
Multimedia: Fans can watch both games live on TheW.tv. Live stats will be available at PepperdineSports.com. Fans can also follow @WavesSoccer on Twitter for live, in-game updates.
Last Week: Pepperdine had an off week last week after traveling to the Bay Area prior to that. The Waves dropped tough 1-0 decisions to both San Francisco and Santa Clara last time out, falling to Santa Clara in the second overtime.
Senior Day: The Waves will honor their three graduating seniors on Sunday as all three players play the final regular-season home games of their career. Pepperdine will acknowledge the accomplishments of Courtney Assumma, Amanda LeCave and Oksana Nicholls prior to the start of play against Portland.
Non-Conference Play: The Waves finished non-conference play with a 5-3-2 record giving the team a winning record against non-WCC opponents for the seventh consecutive year. In program history, Pepperdine has had only two seasons with losing non-conference records (2007, 1997), just one of which came under current head coach Tim Ward.
Clean Sheets: All six of the Waves' victories have come by way of shutout so far this season. Pepperdine is coming off a season in which it posted 11 shutouts. Hannah Seabert has five solo shutouts in goal this year (6 combined), making her third all-time on the Waves' career list with 19 solo shutouts.
Youth Movement: Pepperdine has a plethora of young talent currently contributing to the team's success. Three of the team's top four point scorers are underclassmen and six underclassmen overall have recorded points on the season for the Waves.
Scoreless Streak: The Waves opened the season with three-straight shutouts, running their scoreless minutes streak to 324 before giving up a goal to Iowa State in their lone loss. The three consecutive shutouts were the most to starts a season since 2004, when the Waves opened with a program-record six-straight shutouts.
Malibu Milestone: Pepperdine head coach Tim Ward hit a milestone this year in the Waves' season-opening win over CSUN, presiding over his 200th win at the helm for the Waves. Ward is in his 18th season with the team after taking over as the Pepperdine head coach in 1998. His team posted a program-best 18 wins in 2002 and has recorded double digit win totals in 12 of his 17 seasons. 2014 was his fourth 15-win campaign. Ward's record is now 201-100-45 for his career.
Players of the Week: Hannah Seabert and Bri Visalli have secured two of the first three WCC Player of the Week awards handed out this season. Seabert won the award after leading the Waves to a pair of overtime shutouts in their first two games and then Visalli snagged the award two weeks later after scoring against Toledo and top-ranked Virginia in a win and a draw.
Preseason All-WCC: Hailey Harbison picked up Preseason All-WCC honors. Harbison (Rancho Penasquitos, Calif./Westview HS) got the preseason nod after taking home WCC Freshman of the Year and NSCAA All-West Region first team honors last year. She was a catalyst on both the offensive and defensive ends for the Waves last season, scoring one goal and recording two assists as an attacking outside defender. Harbison was part of a Waves defense that gave up just 16 goals all year, and led the conference with 11 shutouts and a 0.67 goals against average.
About Pepperdine: Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports — one of just 17 schools to have accomplished this feat — and nine overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a "major" conference. The Waves have won a total of 25 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, three times (most recently in 2011-12). Located in scenic Malibu, Calif., the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #52 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
