Zags Earn Point off No. 11 Pepperdine
10/27/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
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SPOKANE, Wash.—After a 110-minute back-and-forth affair against No. 11 Pepperdine, the Gonzaga University women's soccer team walked away from Luger Field with a point Sunday, drawing equal with the Waves by a score of 1-1.
"We had to find a way to rebound from Friday's disappointing result, and what you saw today was the incredible character of this team," said Gonzaga women's soccer head coach Amy Edwards. "You go down a goal after again out-playing them in the first half and you see us have the character to come back and tie it up. We had an opportunity to win it with Mikayla's shot there and still didn't drop off, and then we still needed to make a big save at the end. I'm extremely impressed with this team's character."
Despite a scoreless first half between the two teams, the Zags had a few strong scoring opportunities in the opening 45 minutes. In the 16th minute, Karley Baggerly got her head on a corner kick and sent in a hard ball onto the Pepperdine goal. A Wave defender positioned near the right post made a save on the shot, however, to keep the teams scoreless.
Seventeen minutes later, the Zags had another dangerous corner kick when Heather Johnson took an attempt on a ball the Wave defense was unable to clear. Through traffic, Pepperdine goalie Hannah Seabert saw the attempt and dove to her right to make the save.
Pepperdine broke the scoreless deadlock eight minutes into the second half when Lynn Williams beat the Zag defense chasing after a pass from Ally Holtz. Williams took a couple of touches and slid the shot past the onrushing Gonzaga keeper, Christie Tombari.
The Waves didn't have the lead for long, however, as the Pepperdine goal seemed to give the Zags a burst of energy. In the 60th minute, the home team evened up the contest on a header from Kasey Rubosky, her first goal of the season. The senior made a hard run on the far post to get under a cross from Johnson and nodded the ball just inside the post for the score.
Both teams had five shots in the remaining half hour of regulation, but both Seabert and Tombari made save after save to send the match into overtime. Mikayla Anderson nearly ended the match just 38 seconds into the first overtime, sending a shot high over the Pepperdine goal. Baggerly also had a strong attempt in the initial extra period, driving a low shot hard at the right post. Seabert got a hand on the attempt and pushed it out for a Gonzaga corner.
In the second overtime, it was Tombari's turn to make a spectacular save. Williams took a hard shot from about 20 yards out, forcing the Gonzaga keeper to dive to her right and turn the ball away, preserving the deadlock and clinching a point for the Zags.
The Zags outshot the Waves 18-15, and put 12 shots on goal as opposed to 8 for Pepperdine. Baggerly lead the squad with six shots, and five of those were on target, both were season highs for the sophomore forward.
"A fantastic effort out there by Karley, who was dangerous out there all day," said Edwards. "I felt that we had to own the central midfield to destroy their attack. Between those midfielders—Tori [Lee], Heather [Johnson], and Aliyah [Miller] and with Lexi [Clark] coming in on the sub, that midfield was fantastic to disrupt their attacks. Also, give it to our four backs as they did a fantastic job playing organized, and they were dangerous attackers as well.
With a draw, Gonzaga advances to 8-7-1 on the year and 3-2-1 in West Coast Conference action. They also picked up a point, remaining in fourth place and two points behind Santa Clara for third. The point was the Zags' first point off a ranked team since Oct. 25, 2007, when the Zags beat No. 12 Santa Clara 2-1 in Spokane.
The Zags and Broncos will battle for third place on Friday, October 31, at 7:00 p.m. in Santa Clara, Calif.
