Cal Earns Tie Against #14 Pepperdine
BERKELEY – California women's soccer earned a hard-fought draw against No. 14 Pepperdine on Sunday afternoon at Edwards Stadium.
Courtney Boone gave the Bears an early lead off a 24th-minute rocket after a fantastic individual display, while Pepperdine answered with a goal in the 76th minute.
The Bears had the first good opportunity in the fifth minute as Keely Roy swung in a free kick from the right flank which just went beyond the outstretched legs of Paige Metayer who was looking to tap it in from inside the six-yard box.
In the 22nd minute, Angelina Anderson came up with a spectacular save as she was moving the wrong way, but still dove back to right to deny a one-time shot from Melina Livadas.
Two minutes later, Boone broke the deadlock with a fantastic individual effort. The centerback stepped into midfield with a crunching tackle to win the ball. She picked it up, dribbled past a Pepperdine midfielder as she went on a 40-yard run from her own half and fired a rocket from 30 yards out that hit the bottom of the crossbar and crossed the line. It was a dazzling individual display to mark Boone's first career goal.
After the goal, Pepperdine pressed to try to even the score, but the Bears remained stout at the back as they didn't allow another shot on goal for the rest of the half and entered halftime leading 1-0.
Cal started the second half strong as after a corner, the Bears generated a couple of opportunities after Ayo Oke beat her defender on the left flank, got to the endline and crossed the ball. Lema one-timed the shot, but it was saved by Pepperdine keeper Ellie Sommers.
Pepperdine found the equalizer in the 76th minute as Tabitha LaParl went down the right flank and crossed the ball into the middle where Carlee Giamonna capitalized to tie the game.
Anderson made another save in the 82nd minute as she dove to her left to stop a close-range attempt. It was a fantastic individual display from the Cal keeper who recorded seven saves.
Kailee Gifford started and played the full 90 minutes against her former team. Gifford spent four seasons with the Golden Bears before moving to Pepperdine for the 2021 season. Gifford played 10 matches for the Waves last year before returning to Cal for the 2022 season.
The Bears will return to action on Thursday evening as they take on Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m. from Titan Stadium in Fullerton.
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