SANTA CLARA, California – A crazy second half saw the Pepperdine women's soccer team take a three-goal lead on the road at Santa Clara, but the Broncos came back with four goals in 14 minutes to claim a 4-3 West Coast Conference victory on Wednesday night.
Leyla McFarland put the Waves (7-6-2, 3-2) ahead 1-0 at halftime and
Joelle Anderson and
Devyn Gilfoy scored within about 70 seconds of each other partway through the second half, but the Broncos (9-5-2, 3-0-2) scored their first goal less than a minute later and then added three more.
Anderson and McFarland each finished with a goal and an assist.
GOALS
Pepperdine 32': A Bronco giveaway in the final third set up the goal, as the ball was sent from the left into the middle but was intercepted by junior forward
Joelle Anderson (San Jose, Calif./Harker School). She immediately sent a through ball ahead of sophomore forward
Leyla McFarland (Bonita, Calif./Eastlake HS) who had a step on the defense and only had the goalkeeper to beat as she ran onto the ball just past the penalty spot, and then slotted it home. McFarland got her third goal of the season.
Pepperdine 60': Anderson put on a scintillating individual effort by spinning, cutting left and right, and finally freeing herself despite facing three Santa Clara defenders, and she finally unleashed a shot a step inside the box, and beat the keeper to the right post for her second goal of the season.
Pepperdine 61': About 70 seconds later, the Waves struck again. Sophomore midfielder
Nicolette Lewis (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay HS) played the ball ahead to McFarland, who immediately played a through ball ahead of junior forward
Devyn Gilfoy (Brentwood, Calif./Liberty HS). Gilfoy one-timed it with her left foot from about 15 yards out and beat the goalkeeper to the right for her second goal of the season.
Santa Clara 62': Izzy D'Aquila's close-range shot was saved by redshirt freshman goalkeeper
Kinsey Ehmann (Paradise Valley, Ariz./Xavier College Preparatory), but the Broncos' Kelcie Hedge scored on the rebound to make it 3-1.
Santa Clara 64': The fourth goal in about a 4 1/2-minute span came when the Broncos' Kelsey Turnbow sent in a ball from the far right side and somehow looped it over the top and into the upper-left-hand corner of the net.
Santa Clara 70': The Broncos earned a penalty kick and Julie Doyle converted.
Santa Clara 76': D'Aquila scored what turned out to be the game-winner as her shot from 15 yards hit the bottom of the crossbar and went down and in.
STATS
Shots: Pepperdine 12, Santa Clara 16
Shots on Goal: Pepperdine 10, Santa Clara 11
Saves:
Kinsey Ehmann (Pepperdine) 7, Courtney Ogren (Santa Clara) 3, Sophie Whitehouse (Santa Clara) 0.
Corner Kicks: Pepperdine 1, Santa Clara 7
Fouls: Pepperdine 6, Santa Clara 11
Offside: Pepperdine 0, Santa Clara 5
QUOTABLE
Pepperdine Coach
Tim Ward said: "I don't think I've ever been part of a game like that. There were some glorious moments of soccer by us, so to lose was an absolute heartbreaker. We showed what we're about, but we also showed our youth. It felt like a tournament game. I'm proud of the girls and so many of our performances, but this one's going to hurt.
"We dodged some bullets in the first half. But we got the first goal, started the second half really well, and I thought we were going to do this. But we lost a little focus and gave up a soft goal right after going up 3-0. I thought we would settle in but the second goal was a killer, an impossible ball to save that lifted their spirits. The PK was unfortunate and shouldn't have happened. But they had all the momentum."
NOTABLE
- The Waves had their three-game winning streak against the Broncos come to an end.
- Santa Clara is receiving votes in this week's United Soccer Coaches poll, making this the ninth time in 15 games that the Waves were playing an opponent either ranked or receiving votes.
- Pepperdine matched its season high with three goals.
- Ehmann tied a season high with seven saves.
NEXT
Pepperdine returns home to host Pacific on Saturday (Oct. 26) at 1 p.m. This has been designated First Responder Appreciation Game.
