MALIBU, California — The Pepperdine women's soccer team visits Santa Clara on Wednesday night in a nationally televised game that will have major implications on the top of the West Coast Conference standings and NCAA Tournament hopes.
Santa Clara was #20 in last week's United Soccer Coaches poll, and if that is still the case this week, the Broncos will be the seventh ranked opponent the Waves have faced this season (and the ninth either ranked or receiving votes).
Pepperdine is in second place in the WCC with nine points after four matches while the Broncos sit one point behind.
MATCH #15 — Wednesday (October 23) at Stevens Stadium in Santa Clara, California: Pepperdine (7-5-2, 3-1-0) at Santa Clara (8-5-2, 2-0-2) at 8 p.m.
WATCH/ONLINE — The match will be televised nationally by ESPNU with Trey Bender and Lori Lindsey calling the action. Links to the broadcast and live stats can be found at PepperdineWaves.com.
OPPONENT — Pepperdine is 11-14 all-time against Santa Clara but has won three straight in the series, including a 1-0 home victory last year against a Bronco team ranked #4 at the time. Between 2000 and 2016, the home team won every game in the series, but the Waves finally ended that streak with a 5-0 victory in 2017, the last time they visited Santa Clara.
Joelle Anderson scored twice and
Calista Reyes added one goal in the win two years ago.
LAST GAME — Nicolette Lewis and
Olivia Packer both scored their first career goals to lead the Waves to a 2-0 home victory over Gonzaga on Saturday. Lewis scored off a corner kick in the ninth minute, while Packer added the second tally in the 38th minute. The Waves outshot the Bulldogs 15-9.
NOTABLE — The win over Gonzaga was the 300th in program history ... The win over Portland was the 250th in
Tim Ward's career ... Eleven different Waves have scored a goal this year and
Hailey Stenberg and
Shelby Little are tied with for the team high with three apiece ...
Leyla McFarland leads with four assists (tied for eighth in the WCC) and she and Stenberg are tied with eight points ...
Kinsey Ehmann is first in the WCC in shutouts per game (0.45), second in goals against average (1.15), third in save percentage (.768) and fourth in saves per game (3.91) ... The Waves' defense is second in the WCC in goals-against average (1.10) and tied for second in shutouts (seven). At the other end of the field, they're sixth in scoring at 1.36 goals per game ... Pepperdine played one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country. The combined win-loss record of their non-conference opponents in 2018 was 120-62-20 (.643), and five of them won matches in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Five of the 10 opponents were nationally ranked at the time of the game, and another was receiving votes. Most notably, the Waves beat then-#2 Stanford and tied Texas A&M and UCLA.
NEXT — The Waves return home on Saturday (Oct. 26) to face Pacific at 1 p.m. Pepperdine has designated this First Responder Appreciation Game.
