MALIBU, California – Sophomore defender (and former Falcon of Houston's The Kinkaid School) Isabel Nelson of the Pepperdine women's soccer team earned West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors after she scored the only goal in a historic win over Stanford and helped the Waves' defense to post a pair of shutouts.
Nelson headed in a corner kick in the 20th minute as the Waves posted a 1-0 victory over Stanford -- a team ranked #1 by Soccer America and CollegeSoccer360, and #2 by United Soccer Coaches. She also played a major role from her central defender position in the Waves' two shutout victories (the Waves also beat San Diego State 2-0).
While Stanford came in as the nation's top-scoring team at 5.2 goals per game, Nelson was tremendous (as were her teammates) on the back line in helping keep the likes of Catarina Macario (last year's MAC Hermann Trophy winner) and the rest of the high-scoring Cardinal off the scoreboard.
The Waves handed Stanford its first regular-season loss since August 25, 2017. Nelson's goal made it the first time in the 2019 season that Stanford had even trailed in a match.
The Waves didn't have a letdown in Sunday's 2-0 win over San Diego State, and Nelson and her defensive teammates limited the Aztecs to just four shots, none on goal.
Nelson, last year's WCC Freshman of the Year and a 2019 preseason All-WCC first team honoree, scored her first goal of the season and the third of her career. This is her second career WCC Player of the Week award.
Pepperdine (3-3-1) continues its run against top 25 competition this week as the Waves travel to Hawai'i to take part in the Rainbow Wahine Shootout. Pepperdine faces #5 UCLA on Thursday (Sept. 19) and #13 Washington State on Sunday (Sept. 22). After this week, five of the Waves' nine games will have been against ranked opponents.
Release courtesy of the Pepperdine University Sports Information Department
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