MALIBU – No. 22 Pepperdine scored a pair of goals in the first half and didn’t look back as it ended UC Santa Barbara’s three-game winning streak with a 2-0 victory in Malibu, Calif., on Friday afternoon.
The Gauchos drop to 3-5-1 on the season while the Waves improved to 7-3-0 and extended their regular season home unbeaten streak to 26 consecutive matches.
Michelle Pao got the Waves on the board in 19th minute when she fired a shot to the upper near post from 30 yards out. Their second goal came in the waning seconds of the first half when Taylor Vargo knocked home a shot from the top of the box off of an assist from Callie Payetta.
Freshman Sara Feder gave the Gauchos their best chance to score in the first half when she directed a header towards the goal that was saved by Pepperdine goalkeeper Roxanne Barker. Allie Ariniello and Indiana Mead had UCSB’s other on-frame shots.
Pepperdine outshot Santa Barbara by a 20-8 margin, including a 9-3 difference in shots on goal. Henry finished with seven saves for the Gauchos while the Waves’ Barker had three.
The Gauchos will play their second consecutive ranked team on Sunday when they host 17th-ranked San Diego State in game that is scheduled to kick-off at 2:00 p.m. The UCSB-SDSU contest will be preceded by a match between the Gaucho men and Harvard that is slated to begin at noon. The start of the women’s match will actually be 30 minutes following the end of the men’s match.
