SANTA BARBARA, California – The Pepperdine women's soccer team closed out non-conference play with its fourth consecutive shutout victory, going on the road to beat UC Santa Barbara 1-0 on Friday evening thanks to a 64th-minute
Hailey Stenberg goal.
Pepperdine closed out non-conference play at 5-5 (four of the five losses were to teams currently nationally ranked), and handed UCSB (7-3) its first home loss of the season.
The Waves dominated a scoreless first half, outshooting the Gauchos 9-1 and putting six of their shots on target. The second half evened up a little bit more (the shot count ended at 18-4), though senior goalkeeper
Brielle Preece (Livermore, Calif./Granada HS) only needed to make one crucial save in the 53rd minute.
After Stenberg (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS), a junior forward, put the Waves ahead, Pepperdine had a chance to double the lead less than two minutes later but saw a penalty kick saved by the UCSB goalkeeper. But the Waves' defense was up to the task the rest of the way as the squad recorded its fifth shutout of the year.
GOALS
Pepperdine 64': Redshirt freshman defender
Laura Ishikawa (Westlake Village, Calif./Westlake HS) sent in a free kick from midfield, and it pinballed around the box a bit. A UCSB defender on the left side attempted to clear, but sophomore forward
Joelle Anderson (San Jose, Calif./Harker School) got a foot on it and it took a fortunate deflection across the field right to an open Stenberg, who one-timed it home with her left foot from about 12 yards away. It was Stenberg's second goal of the season. Five of her six career goals have been game-winners.
STATS
Shots: Pepperdine 18, UC Santa Barbara 4
Shots on Goal: Pepperdine 8, UC Santa Barbara 1
Saves:
Brielle Preece (Pepperdine) 1, Hanna DeWeese (UCSB) 7
Corner Kicks: Pepperdine 5, UC Santa Barbara 5
Fouls: Pepperdine 12, UC Santa Barbara 13
Offside: Pepperdine 1, UC Santa Barbara 0
QUOTABLE
Pepperdine Coach
Tim Ward said: "It was another great result for us. The soccer keeps getting better and better. This group, after a rough start to the season, we're starting to play some really good football. There were moments of excellent team play and we deserved to win the game. This is a really good Santa Barbara team, very athletic, and we did a good job to neutralize them by keeping possession of the ball. It was a great finish by
Hailey Stenberg. We kept battling and that's four straight shutouts so we're playing good defense. That's been our recipe for success the past few years and we know that's what we've got to do going forward. Every single one of our defensive players was excellent."
NOTABLE
- Preece recorded her 18th career solo shutout, fourth all-time at Pepperdine.
- The Waves are working on a 366-minute shutout streak.
- Freshman midfielder Nicolette Lewis (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay HS) became the ninth Wave to make her first career start this season.
- Anderson attempted a career-high eight shots. The team's 18 shots tied a season high.
NEXT
Pepperdine begins West Coast Conference play on the road next weekend, visiting Pacific (Friday, Sept. 28) and Saint Mary's (Sunday, Sept. 30).
