MORAGA, Calif. – Competing in its final road match of the 2025 campaign, the Pacific women's soccer program makes the short drive to lock horns with Saint Mary's at 3 p.m. on Saturday from Saint Mary's Stadium.

The Tigers (4-6-6, 1-3-4 WCC) currently ride a four-game unbeaten streak into the match with the Gaels (10-2-3, 5-1-2 WCC), tying the longest such streak of this season.

Pacific has been led by the defensive efforts of freshman Lis Van Herwijnen, who is coming off back-to-back clean sheets against San Francisco and Oregon State. With those pair of performances last week, Van Herwijnen was named West Coast Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Week, given her third and fourth shutouts of the season. Van Herwijnen is now up to 45 saves on the year and owns a 1.82 goals against average and .692 save percentage across 11 starts.

On the offensive end, the Tigers have struck in timely situations as junior Whitney Garn and sophomore Sierah McCallum stand atop the team leaderboard in goals with two apiece. Garn scored the Tigers' most recent goal in a 1-1 draw at LMU, scoring on a partial break from a beautiful through ball by graduate student Taylor Curtis.

Pacific head coach Jeff Freeman's offense has been dispersed throughout its roster with nine players with at least with a goal. Fifth year Aniela Jensen and Garn have continued to pace the mid-fielding efforts while sophomore Gianna Gagliano has carved out the most minutes on defense with 1,354 to her name. Gagliano scored her first career goal in the Tigers' most-recent victory against Santa Clara by a 2-1 margin.

For the first time since 2021, Saint Mary's received votes in this week's United Soccer Coaches poll. The Gaels are the only West Coast Conference team featured in the poll. Two conference road wins last week helped get them on the national stage, including a clean sheet over WCC leader Pepperdine, 1-0.

SMC's Sydney Middaugh was credited with WCC Offensive Player of the Week last week after netting a brace against San Diego. Middaugh carries the torch offensively for the Gaels with seven goals, 16 points and 17 shots on goal.

Defensively, Kate Plachy has started every contest in goal for the Gaels this season, sporting a .67 goals against average and a .857 save percentage in 15 starts. Her ten shutouts lead the WCC.

The Tigers and Gaels clash for the 21st time in the series history that dates back to 1994. Since 2007, the Tigers own a 4-3-1 record on the road over SMC and seek their first victory over the program since Oct. 2, 2016. The last road victory at the Gaels came a year earlier on Oct. 24, 2015, by a 2-1 score.

The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+ for the scheduled 3 p.m. kick-off.

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