MALIBU, Calif. – Taylor Rath and
Julia Quinonez of the Pepperdine women's soccer team were named West Coast Conference Defensive and Offensive Players of the Week respectively, the conference announced today. This is the first time in program history that Pepperdine has swept the WCC Players of the Week accolades. Prior to the 2021 season, the conference only honored one player each week.
Rath and Quinonez helped the Waves go 1-0-1 over the weekend, when the Waves tied San Diego State 1-1 on Thursday night and blanked CSUN 2-0 on Sunday night.
Rath (Las Vegas, Nev./Palo Verde HS/UTSA), a redshirt sophomore goalkeeper, has been the Waves' starting keeper and made a career-high six saves against San Diego State on Thursday night and only allowed one goal. She had a .857 save percentage against the Aztecs and made key saves. On Sunday night, Rath was dominant for Pepperdine and faced seven shots with four huge saves against the Matadors. The Waves stood tall in front of Rath and scored two goals against CSUN to help her collect her first solo shutout of the season and the second of her career.
Quinonez (Torrance, Calif./Torrance HS), a freshman forward, scored two goals in two games including the game-winning goal against CSUN. On Thursday against San Diego State, Quinonez found the back of the net first in the 61st minute on a pass from
Kam Pickett. Quinonez did a spin move around the defender to gain control of the ball and then sent a right-footed rocket to the top left corner past the Aztecs' keeper. On Sunday, Quinonez stayed hot and found the back of the net in the 56th minute to put the Waves up 1-0 over the Matadors. Pepperdine earned a throw-in that
Peyton Leonard threw to
Tori Waldeck. Waldeck then made one move to gain control of the ball and tapped a beautiful cross to Quinonez who crashed the box and tapped the ball past the Matadors' keeper.
This is the first WCC weekly award for Rath and Quinonez.
The Waves (1-0-3) will head to Northern California to play Fresno State on Friday, Sept. 1. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. and will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network.
