MALIBU, Calif. -- Returning to the pitch for the first time in a week, the USF Dons women's soccer team (5-5-4, 0-3-1) battled hard under atypically rainy and cool conditions in Southern California to earn a 1-1 draw on the road against the Pepperdine Waves (7-2-4, 1-1-2) on Saturday afternoon. 

USF got the scoring started early on Saturday as Jamesen Ward was able to find the back of the net for the second time this season off a great assist from Kaylin Lunsford. The Dons also received a tremendous performance in goal from Kira Ybarra, who made numerous key saves against the Waves as she totaled nine saves and allowed just the only goal in the first half.

Both teams were unable to get the offense going in the second half, as USF's defense held strong against the potent Pepperdine offense to earn their first draw of WCC play.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

• Each side battled early on going on the offensive attack with the Dons striking first as Lunsford corralled a deflected ball and set up Ward with a great look as she found the back of the net off a right-footed strike to put USF up 1-0 early. 
• The Waves were able to answer back 12 minutes later as the home team evened the score right before the 20 minute mark.
• Both teams had stretches and opportunities to push across the go-ahead goal, but both defenses were playing stingy and some key saves from Ybarra helped the Dons earn the draw to snap the team's losing skid.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

• Ward was key to the offense as she scored her second goal of the season while playing 76 key minutes for the Dons on Saturday.
• Ybarra was tremendous throughout Saturday afternoon's match as she totaled nine saves in her third career start while facing a total of 21 shots from the Waves. 
• Lunsford added another point to her season total with her first assist of the 2022 season.

CATCHING UP WITH COACH MILLINDER:
"It's always tough to play at Pepperdine against a very good team. We scored first on a very good shot from Jamesen Ward and then got complacent and they got one back and we held on until halftime. We changed our shape the second half and absorbed a lot of that pressure. The team fought so hard the second half and remained very organized to get a draw. We had a couple of chances on counters the second half but I was so proud of their fight and perseverance. Kira Ybarra was amazing today and gave us a chance to stay in the game. We look forward to our next match against Pacific." 

UP NEXT:
The Dons now return home on Wednesday night as they will welcome the Pacific Tigers (5-1-8, 0-1-2) to Negoesco Stadium at 7:00 p.m. USF shut out the Tigers in last season's matchup in Stockton as the Dons took home the 1-0 victory last October. 

SPONSOR THE DONS:
The University of San Francisco Athletics Department would like to acknowledge and thank our primary sponsor - Provident Credit Union - for their continued support of USF Athletics. Interested in sponsoring the Dons? Please contact Frank Allocco, the Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director of External Relations, at fallocco@usfca.edu or at (415) 422-4561. 

FOLLOW US:
For updates and more information on the USF women's soccer program, be sure to follow @USFDonsWSoccer on Twitter, @USFDonsWSoccer on Instagram and @USFDonsWSOC on Facebook.