MALIBU, Calif. – Trailing 1-0 late in the contest on Friday, the University of San Francisco women's soccer team bullied their way to a goal with three minutes left in regulation. The Dons and host Pepperdine battled through two overtimes and eventually settled for a 1-1 draw at Tari Frahm Rokus Field.
USF (7-5-1, 0-1-1 WCC) was outshot by Pepperdine (6-6-1, 1-1-1 WCC) in the early going, but in the 87th minute, sophomore defender
Cassidy Helenihi scored off a free kick on the right corner to beat the Wave's keeper. The goal by Helenihi was the first of her career and gave the Dons a huge boost.
In the opening 45 minutes, the Waves had pressed their advantage. Maintaining possession on the Dons' half of the field, culminating in a goal scored by the Wave in the 21st minute that broke a 0-0 tie.
In the final 15 minutes of the opening half the Dons attack came to life, figuring out the tight Pepperdine defense and putting together several nice runs. One, a shot on goal by
Ashley Humphrey from the left side, nearly resulted in the equalizer. At the break, the Dons found themselves trailing 1-0 and were being outshot 5-3.
After the break, it seemed like only a matter of time before the Dons got on the board. USF outshot the Waves, 6-5, including a 4-1 advantage with shots on goal. The Dons also had three corner kicks to Pepperdine's one.
In extra time, keeper
Olivia Camera (3-3-1) was a brick wall, recording four of her six saves in extra time.
COACH'S QUOTE
"It was a battle, a hard fought game," said head coach
Jim Millinder. "I thought Pepperdine was better than we were in the first half and I thought we were better than they were in the second half. We brought our effort in the second half and in overtime, we played hard and you got to play hard to get a result. We had some tremendous individual performances,
Cassidy Helenihi scored her first career goal."
NEXT UP
The Dons will travel south on the Pacific Coast Highway to take on Loyola Marymount on Sunday. The Dons and Lions kick off at 1 p.m. from Sullivan Field.
