NCAA women

Medina's late goal sends Pepperdine past No. 3 SCU 1-0.

MALIBU, Calif. (Sunday, October 15, 2006) -- Freshman forward Sophia Medina scored late to power Pepperdine to a 1-0 upset of No. 3 Santa Clara to gain a share of first place in the West Coast Conefernce before 337 at Tari Frahm Rokus Field this afternoon.

Pepperdine (8-4-3) pulled even with fifth-ranked Portland for the WCC lead at 2-0-1, while the Broncos (11-3-1) slipped to 1-1-1.

Pepperdine surprised Santa Clara for a second straight season after dropping the then No. 7 Broncos 1-0 a year ago, also in Malibu where the Broncos have now fallen four consecutive times.

"Today's win was huge for our program," Waves coach Tim Ward said. "We needed both wins this weekend and we got them and now we know what's at stake. We're really proud of the performance our team had this weekend."

On Friday, Pepperdine edged San Diego 2-1 on sophomore forward Amanda Rupp's tally with 1:58 remaining in a second and final sudden-death overtime period.

SCU controlled the tempo for much of the match, outshooting the Waves 16-7, but it was Pepperdine senior striker Lindsey Redlin who set up the winning sequence by lobbing a pass to Medina. She beat one defender to go one-on-one with sophomore goalkeeper Meagan McCrey before firing a shot from six yards out with 9:36 left to play.

SCU had a free kick from just above the penalty area and a corner kick in the final minute, but the Waves defense diffused any danger.

Pepperdine had the best early chance, but McCray made a sold stop to deny sophomore midfielder Emily Wynne, who worked herself open and then took a pass from Redlin.

McCray wound up making five saves to three for Waves sophomore keeper Kayla Stolte, who recorded her fifth clean sheet of the season.

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