Lutes Host Linfield and Lewis & Clark in NWC Action

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran will host Linfield and Lewis & Clark this weekend. The Lutes will play the Wildcats at noon on Saturday and then face the Pioneers at noon on Sunday. Both matches will be at the PLU soccer field.

THE FIRST TIME AROUND: Freshmen Katrina Weisbecker and Katie Cabuling tallied goals as the Lewis & Clark Pioneers defeated the Pacific Lutheran Lutes 2-0 on Sept. 19. The Pioneers outshot the Lutes, 11-7, forcing Pacific Lutheran goalkeeper Lauren Chambard to make five saves. Weisbecker tallied the first score in the 18th minute after running onto a perfect slot pass into the left side of the penalty box from sophomore Natalie Stratton. Weisbecker took one touch, drawing the PLU defense to her, before chipping the ball over the onrushing PLU keeper. Lewis & Clark scored the second goal on a set piece in the 39th minute. Cabuling took the free kick from about 12 yards out and straight on frame. Her attempt found the right side of the goal. At Linfield, Olivia Lee gave Pacific Lutheran an early second half lead with a penalty kick, but the Wildcats scored twice in a two-minute span to deal the Lutes a 2-1 defeat on Sept. 20. McKensie Booth and Brittany Willis scored in 59th and 61st minutes to lift the Wildcats to the win. 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. With PLU seemingly in control, Linfield responded in the 59th minute on a corner kick. Sara Blake lofted a ball into the box where Booth came running in to drill home the equalizer. Just a minute and a half later Willis scored from point blank on an assist from Abby Williams to put Linfield up 2-1. PLU managed only five shots in the match but 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.

ABOUT THE PIONEERS: Lewis & Clark has struggled offensively this season, ranking at or near the bottom of the Northwest Conference stat sheet in several categories. The Pioneers are tied with the Lutes for the fewest goals in the conference, with 10 goals in 14 matchesfor an average of 0.71 per match. The Lewis & Clark defense has been the strength of the squad, ranking third in the NWC with 13 goals against in 14 matches.

ABOUT THE WILDCATS: Linfield is a solid offensive team, ranking second in the Northwest Conference with 25 goals scored in 15 matches for an average of 1.67 per match. However, the Wildcats' defense has struggled somewhat, ranking near the bottom of the conference with 25 goals against. MacKenzie Doty leads the Wildcats and ranks third in the NWC in scoring, with nine goals this season.

LAST WEEK: Lindsey Oakes scored her fourth goal of the season to lift Whitworth University to a 2-1 win over visiting Pacific Lutheran Universityon Saturday afternoon. The halves were very different. The first half was an evenly-played back-and-forth affair, while the second half settled into a Pirate-controlled period. The shots were even at halftime 7-7, but the Bucs had a 7-1 edge after the break. Sidonia Davin put the Pirates on the board first when she was in the right place to clean up a saved effort off of the head of Whitworth's Molly Moore. Davin's goal, her fifth of the season, came in the second minute after PLU keeper Lauren Chambard had made the initial save of Moore's shot. PLU tied it in the 44th minute when Kristina Snaring hit a cutting Karli Hurlbut with a perfect pass, and Hurlbut lofted the ball over Whitworth keeper Callie Bergstrom in the 44th minute. Elizabeth Mattila set up the winner for the Pirates when she beat a defender on the right side and passed to a wide-open Oakes in the middle of the box. Oakes' shot carried to the upper-left corner in the 56th minute. Karin Hatch had one last chance to tie the match, but her headed effort - PLU's only shot in the second period - was saved by Bergstrom next to the post with 30 seconds to play. Corina Gabbert had her second three-goal performance in two weeks to lead the host Whitman Missionaries to a 5-0 Northwest Conference women's soccer victory over Pacific Lutheran on Sunday afternoon at the Whitman Athletic Fields. On Saturday, Whitman inundated the Lutes with 25 shots. The Missionaries scored their first goal in the ninth minute when Taylor Chock lifted a cross from the top right corner of the 18-yard box to the center of the PLU goal where Gabbert was waiting to head it home. Three minutes later, Jaclyn Rudd curled a 25-yard left-footed rainbow from the middle of the field to the upper left corner of the net. Whitman dominated the first 30 minutes of action, taking nine shots before the Lutes got off their first salvo near the end of the 22nd minute. With halftime on the horizon, PLU's offense got busy, forcing Whitman keeper Courtney Porter to make two diving saves late in the first half of action. The Lutes kept up the pressure early in the second half, outshooting Whitman 6-2 in the first 20 minutes. With Whitman's defense weathering the mini-storm, PLU's hopes for a comeback faded when Gabbert scored again at the 65:01 mark, extending Whitman's lead to 3-0. Less than seven minutes later, Gabbert completed her hat trick, breaking free of the defense on the left side before hitting a 20-yard scoring strike to the far post. Whitman tacked on its last goal with about 12 minutes left in the game when Forbes got loose outside the 18-yard box and lofted a shot over the keeper's head and into the netting.  

LUTE NOTES: Lauren Chambard ranks second in the conference with an average of 5.92 saves per game.

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