WAVES VS. SUN DEVILS: Pepperdine leads its all-time series with Arizona State 3-0-1 ... the Waves won the last meeting in Tempe in 2006, 1-0, on a goal by Mckenzie Hill ... Pepperdine is 1-0 vs. the Sun Devils at home and 2-0-1 against them on the road.

WAVES VS. GAUCHOS: Pepperdine has won the last seven meetings against UC Santa Barbara and lead the all-time series 8-2 ... the Waves won last year’s game on the road, 2-1, thanks to a two-goal performance from Emily Wynne, who connected in the 71st and 80th minutes ... the series, which was forged in 1994, continued through the 2001 campaign, but the two clubs have only met twice since in 2003 and 2007 ... six of the last seven matches in the series have been decided by one goal.

LAST WEEK’S RECAP: Pepperdine dropped to 11-5 (.688) all-time in home openers last Saturday after enduring a 1-0 loss to the hands of Cal State Fullerton ... CSF’s Tiffany Craig blasted in the game-winner in the 70th minute after tracking down a loose ball inside the 16-yard box ... the Titans’ defense held tight late in the match, making two team saves on the goal line, and netminder Shannon Simpson stopped an Amanda Rupp penalty kick ... Waves’ goalkeeper Kayla Stolte was credited with six saves and Emily Wynne led all players with four shots.

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Pepperdine is in the midst of a seven-match homestand, which is its longest ever to start a season ... The Waves scheduled two previous seven-match homestands midway through the 2005 and 2007 seasons and posted respective win-loss records of 4-2-1 and 2-1-4 ... Prior to 2008, Pepperdine’s longest season-opening homestand had been four matches, which took place Aug. 31 to Sept. 17, 2001.

WAVES AT TARI FRAHM ROKUS FIELD (0-1): The Waves are 97-32-16 (.724) in 15 seasons of playing at Tari Frahm Rokus Field, including a 4-3-4 mark in 2007 ... Pepperdine, which has yet to post a losing record at Rokus Field in any season, has recorded two unbeaten and four one-loss campaigns on its home pitch since the program’s inception in 1993.

THE HEAD COACH: The Waves are 115-60-27 (.636) under the direction of Tim Ward, who has served as Pepperdine’s skipper since 1998 ... Under Ward, the Waves have made the NCAA Tournament in five of the last seven years ... Ward has been with Pepperdine from nearly the beginning, as the program was established in 1993 and he became an assistant coach in 1994 before being elevated to the head position in 1998.

THE WAVES’ TRI-CAPTAINS: For 2008, the team captains are junior goalkeeper Kayla Stolte, senior midfielder Ashley Copp and junior forward Courtney Price ... The tri-captains were voted to their current position by their teammates just weeks before the start of the 2008 spring season ... Their leadership helped the Waves rebound from a disappointing 5-8-6 record in 2007, by guiding the club to an 8-1 mark against its exhibition opponents.

PRIZED RECRUITS: Pepperdine’s recruiting class was ranked 34th in the nation (out of 320 programs) and ninth in the West Region (out of 49 teams) by Soccer Buzz Magazine ... Head coach Tim Ward’s 2008 recruiting class includes Soccer Buzz Top 100 recruit and defender Kelsea Smith as well as Top 200 recruits forward Laura Cole and midfielder Myriah Stockman ... As a conference, the WCC ranked fourth (out of 31) in the Soccer Buzz conference team rankings behind only the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-10.

WAVES WITHIN THE WEST COAST CONFERENCE: Pepperdine is projected to finish fifth in the WCC in 2008 according to the preseason poll voted on by the conference’s coaches ... Portland led the way with 49 points and seven first-place votes and were followed by Santa Clara with 42 points and one first-place vote ... The Waves, who are seeking their sixth NCAA Tournament bid in the last eight seasons, return eight starters and 14 letterwinners overall.

ROUGH ROAD AHEAD: Pepperdine’s schedule is a major challenge once again in 2008 as the Waves match up with five nationally ranked opponents and six NCAA Tournament participants from 2007 ... Pepperdine’s 20-match slate includes preseason #2 UCLA and #13 Tennessee in addition to WCC rivals #6 Portland, #22 Santa Clara and #25 San Diego ... The Waves’ 2008 opponents combined for an overall win-loss record of 209-144-49 in 2007, equaling an impressive .581 winning percentage.

NCAA WOMAN OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE: Former Wave Jenna Shay was nominated by the West Coast Conference for the 18th annual NCAA Woman of the Year Award ... This award honors student-athletes after their senior year of academic eligibility for their collegiate achievements in service, leadership, athletics and academics ... During her career at Pepperdine, Shay was named to the WCC Commissioner’s Honor Roll all four years and was a member of the Pepperdine Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) ... During the summer of 2007, Shay spent time in Uganda teaching soccer clinics, volunteering in a medical clinic and sharing her faith ... She also spent time as a student-teacher at local middle and high schools earning her the Athletic Director’s Award for Excellence in Academics, Athletics and Community Service ... The 2008 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced in Indianapolis on Oct. 19.

PEPPERDINE NIKE CHALLENGE ON TAP: Pepperdine’s homestand continues next weekend, playing host to the Iowa Hawkeyes and Northwestern Wildcats of the Big Ten Conference ... #24 and WCC rival San Diego also will be part of the two-day, four-match challenge ... Friday’s game times are 1 and 3:30 p.m. ... Sunday’s game times are 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. ... Pepperdine will play in the second match each day.

TICKETS: Single-match tickets to all home women’s soccer games are $8 for adults, $5 for students and seniors and free to all Pepperdine students and faculty with an university ID.