Elyse Bennett, Molly Myers lift No. 24 Cougars to 2-1 win over Pepperdine

HONOLULU – Elyse Bennett and Molly Myers scored second-half goals and No. 24 Washington State held off red-hot Pepperdine 2-1 on Sunday at the Rainbow Wahine Shootout.

Bennett’s unassisted third goal of the season gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead at the 55:14 mark of the second half. Joelle Anderson pulled the Waves (3-4-2) even just over 10 minutes later, but Myers knocked in the game winner, with an assist from Brianna Alger, at the 77:11 mark.

WSU (7-1) became the first Pac-12 team to beat Pepperdine after the Waves knocked off top-ranked Stanford 1-0 and tied with No. 5 UCLA 2-2.

It was the 44th career win for WSU goalkeeper Ella Dederick, tying her with Gurveen Clair (2011-14) for the program’s all-time record. Alger has a team- and conference-high six assists this season.