LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Pepperdine women's soccer (0-2-1) lost a close battle to the No. 5 Trojans of USC (2-0) Thursday night at Rawlinson Stadium.
 
"Incredibly proud of the performance the ladies put forward tonight," head coach Tim Ward said. "It's not the result we were looking for but the performance was outstanding. We're going to focus on us and we want to see if we can take the next step as a team as we head up [to Cal.]"
 
Julia Quinonez and Peyton Leonard were the two to score, with Ariana Markey getting her second assist in two games for the Waves.  
 
Pepperdine came out of the gate ready to play, pressing every chance they got. For the second game in a row, the Waves struck first with a goal from Quinonez in the 19th minute with the help of Markey. This is Markey's second assist on her career with her first coming last game against Hawai'i.
 
Before the half, the Trojans evened the score and six minutes into the second half, Leonard got the opportunity to score on a penalty kick. Scoring unassisted off the rebound, the Waves held a 2-1 advantage early in the latter 45 minutes.  
 
USC scored twice in the next nine minutes and the final 30 of the game would be Pepperdine looking for an equalizer.
 
The Waves fell 3-2 to the No. 5 Trojans.
 
Jillian Medvecky saved six shots tonight, averaging 5.67 a game through three.
 
Pepperdine put up half the shots USC did, shooting seven compared to the home team's 14 with nine of them on target.
 
USC secured four saves, including a penalty kick in the second half. The Trojans also held the advantage on corners, earning five compared to the Waves' two.
 
Next up, Pepperdine has a quick turnaround to play California, Berkeley on the road Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be available on pepperdinewaves.com