SAN FRANCISCO -- The heavy San Francisco fog rolled in like a blanket over Negoesco Stadium but it didn't dampen the evening as the USF women's soccer team posted a 1-0 victory over Pepperdine on Friday evening behind Sonja Giraud's fourth goal of the season and a stout defense that did not allow Pepperdine many good looks.
The Dons (8-2-3, 2-0-0) have now won their first two conference matches for the first time since 2007 when they opened WCC play with home wins against Saint Mary's and Gonzaga.
"In the WCC every game's a battle," commented fourth-year head coach Jim Millinder after the win. "It's exactly what I expected tonight. Pepperdine is an outstanding team, and at the end of the night Sonja came up with a little creative magic there and stuck the ball in the net."
Giraud put the Dons on the board early with a goal in the 16th minute of play. The Dons took advantage of one of their few chances in the first half as Giraud was able to corral a ball that had sprung loose inside the box in front of the Pepperdine net. Giraud found herself one-on-one with Pepperdine keeper Hannah Seabert and slipped a low shot under Seabert's glove from about eight yards out to register her fourth goal of the season, tying her with Samantha Jehnings for the team lead.
"I honestly don't even remember [how the goal developed]," said Giraud afterwards. "There were just a lot of people around me and I saw the ball and cut some people off and kicked it and it went in."
Pepperdine (6-5-2, 1-2-0) controlled the ball in their attacking third for most of the first half, outshooting USF 8-2 in the frame. One of the Waves' best chances in the half came in the 35th minute when Amanda LeCave found a sliver of a window open between USF defenders in the box and fired a firm attempt from 15 yards out that sailed just wide right by no more than a foot as USF keeper Madalyn Schiffel made the full extension dive.
Coming out of halftime, the momentum shifted in USF's favor considerably. Despite making some adjustments to shift to a more defensive-minded approach in the second half, the Dons ended up putting on the offensive pressure also, outshooting the Waves 9-7 in the half.
"We changed our shape a little bit to try and absorb it more and counter and just try and kill the game off," said Millinder on his team's second-half adjustments. "And that's the way it is in this conference; you get up a goal late in the game and teams are just going to try to kill the game off on you and slow the game down."
"I think we combined better," added Giraud, "but eventually we need to take our chances better because we had a lot of chances. They played really well out of the midfield, but I think we did a good job of pressuring them."
The Dons almost added an insurance goal in the 78th minute when Micaela Mercado weaved a beautiful through ball that set a streaking Alex Alugas up for a clean look on the right wing, however Alugas' one-timer from the edge of the 18-yard box sailed just high.
As the second half wore on and the USF defense continued to get tested, it appeared the landscape of the match was about to change dramatically when a hand ball in the box by a USF defender resulted in a penalty kick try for the Waves in the 83rd minute. Hailey Harbison lined up to take the shot for Pepperdine that would have tied the contest at 1-1, but her attempt bounced wide left, neutralizing the threat.
From there, USF held on to the 1-0 advantage to close out the victory. Pepperdine ended up with a 15-11 advantage in shots overall and a 7-4 edge in corner kicks.
Schiffel tallied six saves in goal - her highest total since Aug. 30 at Oregon State - as she helped direct her WCC-best eighth shutout of the season.
Alugas paced the Dons with three shots, while Sydnie Telson and Jessica Nakae also offered shots on goal for USF.
The Dons continue WCC action when they host the second-place Loyola Marymount Lions on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Negoesco Stadium.
