MALIBU, California – Trinity Watson and Hailey Stenberg scored goals and Kinsey Ehmann stopped one of the two penalty kicks she faced as the Pepperdine women's soccer team opened up West Coast Conference play on Saturday with a 2-1 home victory over Portland.
 
After Watson started the scoring with a penalty kick in the 30th minute, redshirt freshman goalkeeper Ehmann (Paradise Valley, Ariz./Xavier College Preparatory) stopped the Pilots' Taryn Ries on her penalty kick attempt just 10 minutes later.
 
The Waves were looking good early in the second half. Portland's defense thwarted two excellent Pepperdine chances in the 59th minute, but the Waves were still able to double the lead on Stenberg's goal in the 62nd minute. Portland threw everything it had at the Waves late and scored on a PK in the final 10 minutes, but the Waves' defense held the rest of the way.
 
The Waves (5-4-2, 1-0-0) ended up outshooting the Pilots (4-3-2, 0-1-0) 14-10 and Ehmann made five saves.
 
GOALS
 
Pepperdine 30': A long ball was played ahead of junior forward Chloe Gaynor (Dana Point, Calif,/Dana Hils HS), who had a step on the defender. As they entered the box, Gaynor was tripped up from behind and a penalty kick was awarded. Sophomore defender Trinity Watson (Ocean Beach, Calif./Point Loma HS) buried the PK for her first career goal.
 
Pepperdine 62': Junior forward Joelle Anderson (San Jose, Calif./Harker School) had the ball on the Waves' defensive half of the field and played it far ahead of senior forward Hailey Stenberg (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS), who ran onto the ball at the top of the box, made a cut to her left and beat the keeper with her left foot from 15 yards out. It was Stenberg's team-high third goal of the season.
 
Portland 81': The Pilots had a free kick on the right side, and as it was sent into the crowd, players on both sides went down and a penalty kick was given to Portland. Larkin Russell scored on the PK to cut the Waves' lead to one.
 
STATS
 
Shots: Pepperdine 14, Portland 10
Shots on Goal: Pepperdine 6, Portland 6
Saves: Kinsey Ehmann (Pepperdine) 5, Jenny Whalen (Portland) 3
Corner Kicks: Pepperdine 2, Portland 3
Fouls: Pepperdine 17, Portland 12
Offside: Pepperdine 4, Portland 0
 
QUOTABLE
 
Pepperdine Coach Tim Ward said: "Portland's always an amazing team and that was a great game today. We got the first goal on the penalty and Kinsey was able to save a penalty, which was fantastic. I thought we deserved a second goal and we got it. Hailey Stenberg, a senior, steps up and has a magic moment and a great finish. It looked like maybe we could get a third and then all of a sudden it's 2-1. It made the last few minutes really interesting. Every conference game is going to be like this one, the margins are very small."
 
NOTABLE

• Pepperdine is now unbeaten in 11 straight WCC openers (8-0-3).
• The Waves are now unbeaten (5-0-1) in their six meetings with Portland.
• Portland's goal was its first against Pepperdine since 2013.
• The Waves went 10 games this season without seeing a penalty kick (either for or against) and three were awarded today.

NEXT
 
Pepperdine visits #4 BYU next Wednesday (October 9) at 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT.