MALIBU, California — The Pepperdine women's soccer team is back in the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time in program history and the third time in four years. The Waves open the tournament at Texas Tech this weekend.

MATCH #20 — Friday (November 15) at the John Walker Soccer Complex in Lubbock, Texas: Pepperdine (11-6-2) at #15 Texas Tech (15-3-2) at 6:30 p.m. CT / 4:30 p.m. PT.

OPPONENT — This is the third straight year that the Waves and Red Raiders will meet. The all-time series is tied at 1-1 after Pepperdine won 3-0 in Malibu in 2017 (Devyn Gilfoy scored the first goal) and Texas Tech won 1-0 in Lubbock in 2018. Texas Tech is the #4 national seed in this quadrant. They placed second in the Big 12's regular season and made the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament. The schools have two common opponents (both beat San Diego State and Loyola Marymount).

NCAA TOURNAMENT — The Pepperdine women's soccer team has earned spots in the NCAA postseason 11 times: a five-year run from 2001-05 and six more times this decade (2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019). The Waves made trips as far as the Sweet 16 in 2002, 2005 and 2014. The Waves have an all-time postseason record of 8-10-2 (.450) and have advanced out of the first round seven out of 10 times. Pepperdine has earned a national seed on four occasions (2002, 2005, 2011 and 2014). Six Waves on the current roster saw action in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, while Hailey Stenberg is the only current player to appear in both the 2016 and 2017 NCAA Tournaments.

WCC HONORS — Six Waves were recognized with WCC postseason accolades. Joelle Anderson and Trinity Watson made the All-WCC first team, Isabel Nelson earned All-WCC second team, Devyn Gilfoy was All-WCC honorable mention and both Kinsey Ehmann and Olivia Packer were picked to the WCC All-Freshman team.

NOTABLE — Pepperdine has posted double-digit victories for the fourth straight year, the eighth time in the last nine seasons and the 19th time in program history ... The win over Portland was the 250th in Tim Ward's career ... The win over Gonzaga was the 300th in program history ... The Waves finished with a winning record at home for the 27th time in the program's 27 years ... Pepperdine has recorded 10 shutouts, the fourth straight year and the eighth time in program history with double-digit shutouts ... During the current season-best four-game winning streak, Pepperdine has outshot its opponents 95-28.

NUMBERS — Thirteen different Waves have scored Pepperdine's 34 goals this season. Joelle Anderson has team highs of six goals and 16 points. Devyn Gilfoy and Leyla McFarland have scored four goals each and three other players have scored three times ... McFarland leads the team with six assists (tied for seventh in the WCC) ... Kinsey Ehmann is first in the WCC in shutouts per game (0.47), second in goals-against average (1.24), fifth in save percentage (.747) and sixth in saves per game (3.73) ... The Waves' defense, which has four sophomores across the back line and a redshirt freshman goalkeeper, is second in the WCC in goals-against average (1.12) and second in shutouts (10). At the other end of the field, they're fifth in scoring at 1.79 goals per game ... Anderson scored her 20th career goal in the regular-season finale. She's the 14th Wave in program history to reach that mark.

WHO'S HOT — Joelle Anderson has scored five goals and had two assists in the last five games ... Devyn Gilfoy has three goals and three assists (and a shutout at goalie) in the last six games ... Leyla McFarland has had two games with a goal and an assist in the last five ... Madi Cook has two goals and an assist in the last four games.

MORE 2019 HONORS — Devyn Gilfoy was named WCC Player of the Week on November 4 after an unexpected start at goalie resulted in a shutout win at San Diego ... Joelle Anderson's goal vs. Santa Clara was named the #1 Goal of the Week by @NCAASoccer ... Kinsey Ehmann was named Top Drawer Soccer's National Player of the Week on September 17 after her shutouts vs. #2 Stanford and San Diego State ... Isabel Nelson was named the WCC Player of the Week on September 16 after scoring the game-winning goal vs. #2 Stanford ... Zoe Clevely was named to Top Drawer Soccer's National Team of the Week on August 27 after posting shutouts against UC Riverside and #12 Texas A&M ... Pepperdine received a Team Academic Award for 2018-19 from United Soccer Coaches.

SCHEDULE — The Waves played seven matches against teams that are in the NCAA Tournament. They are the only team to beat Stanford (the overall #1 seed) and they earned ties against UCLA and Texas A&M. Pepperdine played one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country. Five of the 10 opponents were nationally ranked at the time of the game this season, and another was receiving votes. Including conference play, nine total opponents were ranked or receiving votes at the time of the game.

NEXT — The Pepperdine-Texas Tech winner will face either Michigan or Bowling Green in the second round. That match could take place next weekend at North Carolina, the #1 seed in this quadrant.