PLU Seeks First NWC Win, End to Loss Skid

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran hosts Whitman at noon on Saturday and Whitworth at noon on Sunday in Northwest Conference matches.

ABOUT WHITMAN: The Whitman Missionaries enter Saturday's contest with a 2-3-1 overall record, including a 1-2-0 mark in the conference. Whitman opened its conference schedule with a 2-1 loss to Whitworth, and last weekend defeated George Fox, 2-0, before losing to Pacific, 1-0. All three of those NWC counters were played in Walla Walla. Courtney Porter has been one of the NWC's best goalkeepers in recent years but her current 1.67 goals against average is below her normal high standard. The offensive firepower is provided by Corina Gabbert with one goal and three assists and Kristin Innes with two goals and one assist. Whitman has been out-scored 10-7 in its six matches.

ABOUT WHITWORTH: The Pirates are off to a great start with a 6-1-0 overall record and a perfect 3-0-0 in the conference, though they play national power Puget Sound in a conference contest on Saturday. Most recently, the Pirates defeated Pacific, 3-0, and George Fox, 1-0, in conference action. Whitworth has out-scored its opponents, 13-3, in its seven matches. Krista Dietz, with a 0.49 goals against average, shares time in goal with Callie Bergstrom, who has a 0.33 goals against average. The balanced offense is led by Lindsey Oaks with three goals and three assists, Sidonia Davin and Stacy Hamer with two goals and one assist apiece, and Elizabeth Mattila with one goal and three assists.

PIONEERS SHUT OUT PLU: Freshmen Katrina Weisbecker and Katie Cabuling tallied goals as the Lewis & Clark Pioneers defeated PLU, 2-0, in a conference match played last Saturday in Portland. The shutout was the fifth in as many matches for the Pioneers. The Pioneers outshot the Lutes, 11-7, forcing Pacific Lutheran goalkeeper Lauren Chambard to make five saves.

LINFIELD RALLIES PAST PLU: Olivia Lee gave Pacific Lutheran an early second half lead with a penalty kick, but Linfield scored twice in a two-minute span to deal the Lutes a 2-1 defeat in a conference match played last Sunday in McMinnville, Ore. McKensie Booth and Brittany Willis scored in 59th and 61st minutes to lift the Wildcats to the win. Lee's penalty kick in the 49th minute ended a string of PLU goalless soccer equating to four matches. The two teams played a scoreless first half before PLU jumped on top less than five minutes into the second half. Shelby Daly took the ball from midfield into Linfield territory before feeding Olivia Lee in the box. Lee slipped by a Wildcat defender before being tripped up. The foul proved costly for Linfield, with Lee finding the lower left corner of the net on the penalty kick. PLU managed five shots in the match and put four of them on target while Linfield had 10 shots, eight on goal. Lauren Chambard came up with six saves in goal for the Lutes.

LOSS SKID: In addition to seeking their first conference win of the season, the Lutes are also looking to put a stop to a five-match losing streak. PLU opened the season with a 1-0 home victory over Northwest University but since then has dropped its last five matches, including last weekend's conference openers against Lewis & Clark and Linfield.

TIME TO BE OFFENSIVE: The Lutes have struggled this season possessing the ball in the offensive third of the field and as a result have come up short in goal (12-3), shot (111-36) and corner kick (28-4) differential. While the Lutes have struggled with getting off shots, their accuracy is excellent with 53 percent of their attempts being "on frame." Sophomore midfielder Karli Hurlbut leads the team in shot attempts with 10 and in shots on goal with six. She is one of three players to score a goal for the Lutes this season. Returning to the familiar home field and playing in front of a supportive crowd should give the Lutes a boost as they look to start putting it together on offense.

LUTES ON THE AIR: Pacific Lutheran men's soccer home matches can be heard online by clicking on the following link - http://www.golutes.com/information/listenlive. Students Paul DiPietro and Bret Handy will call most of the action, with sports information director Nick Dawson handling some of the play-by-play duties.

- PLU -