MORAGA, Calif. — The Saint Mary's Women's Soccer Team will head south to take on Loyola Marymount on Wednesday, October 20 at 7:00 p.m. and Pepperdine at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 23. The Gaels will face teams on each end of the WCC Women's Soccer Standings, with the Pepperdine Waves at the top of the table and Loyola Marymount at the bottom. They'll need to avoid looking ahead to Pepperdine to make sure the LMU match doesn't become a "trap game" and focus on taking care of business Wednesday. Then they'll need their ultimate focus for 90 minutes against the high-flying Waves, who have outscored their opponents 38-5 this season.

THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's Gaels (8-2-3, 2-1-1) at Loyola Marymount (0-14, 0-4)
Wednesday, October 20 at 7:00 pm. 
Sullivan Field, Los Angeles 
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Gaels at #3 Pepperdine Waves (13-1, 4-0)
Saturday, October 23 at 2:00 p.m.
Tari Frahm Rokus Field, Malibu, Calif.
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LAST TIME OUT
The Gaels beat the Portland Pilots 2-1 for their second WCC win of the season last Saturday. In the 27^th minute Suzuna Shibukawa lofted a perfectly-placed ball to the right side of the goal mouth where it was headed into the back of the net by Maya Alcantara for her first goal of the season to make it 1-0 Saint Mary's.
 
In the 35^th minute Shibukawa would again take a penalty kick, and rather than send it to the right side of the six-yard box she bent it into the upper-left corner of the goal past the leaping Pilots keeper for a 2-0 Gaels lead and her seventh goal of the season.

ABOUT LOYOLA MARYMOUNT
Jenny Bindon was announced as the women's soccer program's sixth head coach in December 2019 following three seasons as an assistant coach for the nationally-ranked UCLA women's soccer team. Bindon had a remarkable on-field career, representing the New Zealand national team for 10 years and collecting 77 caps, the most by a men's or women's goalkeeper, in New Zealand's history.
 
LMU currently has three players tied for the team lead with four points in Makiya Christensen, Skylar Robledo, and Sydney Schultz. The Gaels are 9-15-4 all time versus the Lions, but won last season's meeting 3-0.

ABOUT PEPPERDINE
The Waves are currently ranked #3 in the country and are 4-0 in conference play. They'll take on defending champion Santa Clara, who is also 4-0 in WCC play, on Wednesday, so something will change at the top of the conference standings by the time the Gaels play them on Saturday. Joelle Anderson and Trinity Watson were selected to the WCC Preseason All-Conference Team and have both already been two-time All-WCC first team picks. Anderson has been a four-time All-WCC selection, also making the second team in 2017 and 2018. She ranks eighth all-time at Pepperdine with 24 goals. Watson, a senior, has tallied seven career goals despite playing a central defender role the past two years.

The Waves were predicted to finish third in the WCC and concluded the delayed 2021 spring season with a 6-5-1 record for a fourth-place finish in the WCC. Four of the five losses came against ranked opponents. The Gaels are 8-14-5 all time against the Waves, with their last victory over Pepperdine being a 1-0 win in 2018.

#GaelsRise — Single game tickets are on sale this weekend! To select your game and your tickets, click HERE!