110 minutes wasn’t enough to separate the Pilots and the Pepperdine Waves on Friday night. The teams battled through 90 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtimes, but neither team could find the net and the game ended in a 0-0 draw.
With the tie the Pilots move to 6-2-3 on the year and 0-0-1 in WCC play while Pepperdine moves to 5-3-3 on the year and 0-0-1 in conference play.
Offense was tough to come by in the first half for both teams. The Pilots ended the half with no shots on goal. Pepperdine had two of their own, but the Pilots’ senior goalkeeper Hanna de Haan came up with two key saves to keep the Waves off the scoreboard.
The teams went into the locker room at halftime with the score knotted at 0-0.
The Pilots came into the second half with an attacking mindset. Freshman forward Kimberly Hazlett took a long range shot just two minutes into the half that narrowly missed putting the Pilots up by a goal after it hit the crossbar.
The Pilots continued to lead the way offensively in the second half as they took nine shots to Pepperdine’s three. Head coach Garrett Smith credits this to the players’ ability to adjust at halftime.
“The sign of a maturing team and a better team is that when given information they make changes,” Smith said. “At the end of the day I think the second half is a true reflection of where we’re at and where we’re headed.”
The chances continued to come late in the second half, but the Pilots couldn’t find the chance to break through and score the go-ahead goal.
While the offense worked tirelessly to break the tie, the Pilots’ defense held strong in the back for the entire game. Pepperdine struggled to find offense in the second half and throughout overtime as Pilot defenders stole and blocked any ball coming their way.
“It’s something the defense talks about before every game, no goals on Merlo,” senior defender Ellie Boon said. “So just shutting it down and being able to have that mentality and follow through with it is awesome.”
The overtime periods were much like the first half as neither team found great chances at goal. Finally after 110 minutes the teams were locked in a stalemate and the game ended in a draw.
Although the Pilots didn’t come out with a win they still managed to keep an unbeaten record at home as they moved to 4-0-1 on the year on Merlo, but they still feel the pain after coming up just short on what would have been their third straight shutout win.
“If you look at our last three results, they’ve all been by shutout,” Smith said. “It’s a decent result, we keep our home field unscathed, but [we feel] a little empty after the result tonight.”
The Pilots will take to Merlo again on Sunday as they face LMU at 1 p.m.
