HONOLULU - Pepperdine struck for a pair of second-half goals to break a scoreless tie at halftime and come away with a 2-1 victory over Georgia Southern on Sunday afternoon at the Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Stadium on Oahu.
The Eagles fall to 0-2 on the young season while Pepperdine improves to 1-1. Georgia Southern returns to Statesboro on Thursday to open up its home schedule by hosting Kennesaw State at 7 p.m. as a part of a doubleheader with the men's squad.
A tight first half saw just five shots combined between the two teams - three for Pepperdine and two for the Eagles. The Waves stepped up the pressure in the second half, recording the first six shots of the period. The sixth, off the foot of Tori Waldeck, found the back of the net for the 1-0 advantage in the 56th minute.
Pepperdine doubled its lead in the 63rd minute on a goal from Julia Quinonez, but just 28 seconds later, senior Smith Cathey pounced on an errant pass in the back and tallied her second goal of the season to make it a 2-1 score.
Carley Borgelt's long-range shot monetarily handcuffed the Pepperdine keeper in the 77th minute, but Taylor Rath was able to corral it to preserve the one-goal lead.
"We faced some really strong competition this weekend," Georgia Southern head women's soccer coach Chris Adams said. "In our first game Thursday, we were dealing with a really good home crowd that Hawai'i brought out. We managed it well until the end, making a couple of mistakes. Our performance today was much better. We had a couple of lapses, but to our credit, we didn't give up the fight. We played a lot better, a lot more indicative of what this team is capable of. Any time you play an NCAA team like Pepperdine, they are able to expose any weakness you have. The good news is that it allows us the opportunity and time to fix it and get ready to go into our next game."
Pepperdine held a 14-6 edge in shots. Katie Oakley made six saves in net for the Eagles, while Rath made two saves for the Waves. Pepperdine held a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks and the Waves were whistled for seven fouls, compared to five for the Eagles.
After the conclusion of the tournament, Cathey was named to the All-Tournament Team in a vote of the participating coaches. Cathey recorded a goal in each game of the tournament for the Eagles.
