HONOLULU – Pepperdine scored two goals in the second half to break a scoreless halftime tie and emerge with a 2-1 victory over Georgia Southern on Sunday afternoon at Waipi’o Peninsula Soccer Stadium on Oahu.
The Eagles fall to 0-2 on the young season while Pepperdine improves to 1-1. Georgia Southern returns to Statesboro on Thursday to open its home schedule by hosting Kennesaw State in a doubleheader featuring the men’s team at 7 p.m.
A close first half saw just five shots on goal between the two teams – three for Pepperdine and two for the Eagles. The Waves turned up the pressure in the second half, scoring the first six shots of the half. The sixth, off the foot of Tori Waldeck, found the back of the net in the 56th minute to give the team a 1-0 lead.
Pepperdine doubled its lead in the 63rd minute with a goal from Julia Quinonez, but just 28 seconds later Simone took advantage of a bad pass behind her and scored her second goal of the season to make the final score 2-1.
Carley Borgelts A long-range shot by Taylor Rath put the Pepperdine goalkeeper under financial strain in the 77th minute, but Taylor Rath was able to save the ball and maintain the one-goal lead.
“We had really strong competition this weekend,” said the head coach of the Georgia Southern women’s soccer team Chris Adams said. “In our first game on Thursday, we faced a really good home crowd that Hawaii brought with them. We held on to the end and made a few mistakes along the way. Our performance today was much better. We had a few slip-ups, but to our credit, we didn’t give up the fight. We played much better, which shows much more what this team is capable of. Anytime you play an NCAA team like Pepperdine, they are able to expose any weakness. The good news is that this gives us the opportunity and time to fix that and get ready for our next game.”
Pepperdine had a 14-6 lead in shots. Katie Oakley made six saves in goal for the Eagles, while Rath saved two for the Waves. Pepperdine had a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks, and the Waves were called for seven fouls to the Eagles’ five.
After the tournament concluded, Cathey was named to the All-Tournament Team by a vote of the participating coaches. Cathey scored a goal in every game of the tournament for the Eagles.
