BATON ROUGE – The LSU Soccer team (4-2-1) battled to a 2-2 draw against the Pepperdine Waves (2-4-1) on Thursday night at the LSU Soccer Stadium.
Pepperdine struck first in the match in Baton Rouge with a goal from forward Tori Waldeck in the 20th minute. Waves midfielder Skylar Enge extended the Pepperdine lead to 2-0 in the 28th minute, but LSU midfielder responded with a goal in the 35th minute to put the Tigers on the board. The equalizer was notched by LSU forward Ava Galligan in the 83rd minute as the match ended 2-2 on the day.
It was a weather-affected competition between the Tigers and the Waves as a lightning delay went into effect following the conclusion of the first half. The two teams reset for competition approximately two and a half hours later as the second half kicked off at 9:30 p.m. in Baton Rouge.
“All credit to Pepperdine. They bossed the midfield and possession early in the game,” said head coach Sian Hudson. “It was a great response in the second half from our team. They applied the information we gave them and came out strong. We learned our lesson in the first half that we have to start out strong and we need to learn and grow from this going into SEC play next week.”
“Ava Galligan had a huge impact in the game today. In our first goal, she drove to get in behind them and sent a great ball to Mollie Baker who found Ida (Hermannsdottir) for the finish and then a great goal for her to kick off her LSU career with the equalizer.”
LSU goalkeeper Mollie Swift made an impressive double save in the 15th minute of the match to deny the Waves an early goal. Swift made the first save on a long range effort and showed her quick reflexes as she readjusted and gobbled up the second shot from close range to nullify the Wave scoring chance.
Soon after, Pepperdine took an early lead in the match via a 20th minute strike from Tori Waldeck. Waldeck received a pass from Karina Gonzalez, sprinted past LSU’s Hali Hartman and rounded goalkeeper Mollie Swift and slotted the ball into the net to give the Waves a 1-0 advantage.
Pepperdine was on the attack again just eight minutes later. The Waves’ Waldeck once again found herself in a dangerous position inside the LSU box. Rather than shooting the ball, Waldeck laid it off to an arriving Skylar Enge, who calmly passed the ball into the net to make it a 2-0 game in favor of Pepperdine.
The Tigers refused to quit after going down 2-0. In the 35th minute, midfielder Ava Galligan nearly took the ball the entire length of the pitch and roped a shot that crashed off of the crossbar directly to the feet of forward Mollie Baker. Baker made a quick decision and laid it off to midfielder Ida Hermansdottir, who rifled a shot into the top right corner of the goal to reduce the deficit to one. Galligan and Baker were each credited with an assist on the goal. It was Galligan’s fourth assist on the year while Baker recorded her third.
That's how you finish it ‼️
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— LSU Soccer (@LSUSoccer) September 7, 2023
The first half ended 2-1 in favor of Pepperdine. After a two and a half hour weather delay, LSU opened the second half on the front foot with an attacking emphasis in order to get the equalizer. Forward Rammie Noel recorded a shot on goal in the opening minutes of the second half as the Tigers attempted to equalize the match.
LSU found a breakthrough with just seven minutes remaining in the match. After a Pepperdine clearance, defender Tori Gillis fired a pass up to Galligan. From just outside the 18-yard box, Galligan shot the ball from long range into the bottom left hand corner of the net for a goal, giving Pepperdine’s goalkeeper Taylor Roth no chance to stop the shot. The goal was Galligan’s first of her Tiger career while Gillis notched her first career assist.
Put some respect on her name 😮💨
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— LSU Soccer (@LSUSoccer) September 8, 2023
Baker and Galligan led LSU with four shots each on the day. Both of the Tigers recorded a shot on net, with Galligan netting a goal and an assist. The Tigers dominated in the shot category in the second half as they outshot the Waves ten to four.
LSU will return to action on Sunday, Sept. 10, as they are slated to take on the Northwestern State Demon Deacons. The match will begin at 4 p.m. CT at the LSU Soccer Stadium.