PORTLAND, Ore. – In a hard-fought battle, the #22 Pepperdine women's soccer team fell 2-0 to #15 Portland in the third week of West Coast Conference play on Saturday night at Merlo Field.
 
The Waves (1-1-1 WCC, 7-2-3) held the Pilots (3-0-0 WCC, 9-0-4) scoreless through more than three quarters of the game, but Portland scored two late goals to collect the win. Peppperdine and Portland were neck-and-neck in shots at 11-10 in favor of the Pilots, and both squads put up six shots in just the second half.
 
GOALS
 
Portland 71': Keeley Dockter of Portland brought the ball into the right side of the box till about a few yards out. Dockter made a move around the Waves' defender and sent a right-footed shot that was almost saved, but rolled into the back of the net in the bottom left corner.
 
Portland 80': Sophia Mattice of Portland intercepted the ball and sent a shot from 30 yards out that hit the crossbar. Off the rebound, the Pilots' Kayla Adams headed it into the back of the net.
 
STATS
 
Shots: Pepperdine 10, Portland 11
Shots on Goal: Pepperdine 4, Portland 6
Saves: Ellie Sommers (Pepperdine) 4, Bre Norris (Portland) 4
Corner Kicks: Pepperdine 6, Portland 3
Offsides: Pepperdine 1, Portland 3
Fouls: Pepperdine 13, Portland 10
 
QUOTABLE
 
Head coach Tim Ward said: "First off, congrats to the Pilots as they have a nice team and are on an amazing run at the moment.
 
"Having said that, it was a very good Pepperdine performance from our squad, but a really tough result as we felt our play merited something more from the match.We controlled the tempo for the majority of the game, but couldn't make our possession count on the scoreboard. We created some really good looks in the game, but just didn't finish our chances when they came.
 
"Our team has amazing character and we will have to show that character in our response to this result tonight."
 
UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine will be back in action in one week hosting San Francisco in a West Coast Conference matchup on Saturday, Oct. 15. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m.