MALIBU, Calif. – The Pacific women's soccer program is set for an early tough road test in West Coast Conference play, heading south to face Pepperdine at noon on Saturday at Tari Frahm Rokus Field.

The Tigers (3-4-3, 0-1-1 WCC) are coming off a tightly contested 1-0 setback against Portland at home, seeking their first win of conference play and first in the all-time series against the Waves (5-4-1, 2-0 WCC).

Pacific has been defensively sound heading into the start of WCC play, allowing just four goals in its last six games. In that span, the Tigers are 2-2-2, including road wins over Nevada and Eastern Washington.

The reason for the Tigers' recent success in their own end could be attributed to the goalkeeping of freshman Lis Van Herwijnen, who owns a 0.60 goals against average and .850 save percentage in five starts. Those numbers rank among the top five within the WCC goalkeeper leaders. Her 3.40 saves/game stand at No. 9 among qualified conference goalkeepers.

Offensively, Pacific has seven different players with a goal, led by the efforts of sophomore Sierah McCallum. McCallum leads the Tigers with a pair of goals and eight shots on target.

Junior Kaya Rosa has seen an uptick in her offensive production, now holding a team-high 16 shot attempts. Rosa has recorded at least one shot attempt in her last five contests.

Pepperdine enters the competition with conference wins over Oregon State and Seattle. The Waves played ranked opponents during their non-conference slate, falling to TCU and USC during that stretch. Pepperdine also has wins over California, Columbia and Arizona. 

In their 6-0 win over Oregon State, the six goals marked the most Pepperdine has scored since Oct. 23, 2023, in a 7-0 win over San Diego. With 32 shots throughout the match, it came just two shy of the third-most shots ever in a single match of their program history.

The Waves followed that performance by defeating the Redhawks by a 3-2 margin. Julia Quinonez scored her first brace of the season for a team-leading six goals on the year. She earned WCC Offensive Player of the Week for her performance against OSU and Seattle. Quinonez has scored in four straight games heading into Saturday's bout.

In goal, Jillian Medvecky has started the bulk of games for Pepperdine, tallying 42 saves and sporting a 1.73 goals against average in ten starts. She has allowed just two goals on 19 shots faced in conference play.

Pacific and Pepperdine meet for the 16th time in the series history that dates back to 1993. The Tigers seek their first-ever win in the match-up with the Waves. Pacific came close last time in Malibu, falling by a 2-1 score during the 2023 season. Graduate student Juliana Alexander made five saves during that 2023 contest.

Saturday's match can be viewed live on ESPN+ for the scheduled noon kick-off time.

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