Nov. 1, 2006

WOMEN’S SOCCER: Lutes Finish Season With Oregon Road Trip

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran (11-5-2 overall, 8-4-2 Northwest Conference) at Willamette, Friday, 11 a.m.; PLU at Linfield, Saturday, 11 a.m.

LUTES FINISH ON THE ROAD: Pacific Lutheran finishes its 2006 season this coming Friday and Saturday with a pair of Northwest Conference matches on the road. On Friday, the Lutes take on Willamette, and on Saturday they’ll go against Linfield. PLU defeated both teams already this season, knocking off the then No. 5-ranked Willamette Bearcats, 1-0, in a match played Oct. 8 on the PLU field. Junior forward Brittney Beitel (Puyallup, Wash. / Univ. of Idaho) scored the game’s only goal in the 62nd minute and sophomore goalkeeper Amanda Tschauner (Yakima, Wash. / West Valley HS) and the PLU defense recorded a shutout. The match was basically even throughout as PLU finished with a narrow 9-8 advantage in shots. The previous day, PLU handled Linfield by a 4-0 score. Senior forward Jackie Oehmcke (Gig Harbor, Wash. / Gig Harbor HS) scored a pair of goals to lead the charge. PLU managed 15 shots to just seven for the visiting Wildcats.

A WEEKEND SPLIT: The Lutes split a pair of Northwest Conference matches last weekend on their home turf. After suffering a disappointing 2-0 loss to Whitman last Saturday, the Lutes got it all together on Sunday, beating the Whitworth Pirates, 2-0. Betsy Neel scored a goal in each half as the Missionaries won on Saturday. Both teams took nine shots, including five on goal. Whitman goalkeeper Courtney Porter recorded a “clean sheet” with five saves. She was strong coming off her line on PLU corner kicks, punching several out of danger. Pacific Lutheran finished the match with eight corners to none for Whitman. On Sunday, Pacific Lutheran honored its five seniors at halftime of their final home match, and all of the PLU players joined in celebrating the 2-0 win over Whitworth. Jackie Oehmcke scored her fifth goal of the season against the run of play at 16:15 to put the Lutes ahead. Sophomore defender Nicole Reinke (Corvallis, Ore. / Crescent Valley HS) sent a 30-yard pass over the back line to Oehmcke, who broke in behind the defense with a perfectly timed run. Another of Pacific Lutheran’s seniors, defender Breann Vanden Bos (Issaquah, Wash. / Liberty HS), scored the second goal at 60:48. Her lofted pass into the goalie box was caught by the wind, flew over the keeper head, bounced once on the ground and then up into the top of the netting. The Pirates had several good scoring chances of their own on eight shots, forcing PLU senior keeper Alyssa Blackburn (Sandy, Utah / Judge Memorial Catholic HS) to make four saves. Other PLU seniors playing their final home match were defender Nikki Roeder (Renton, Wash. / Tahoma HS) and forward Nicole Veth (Bremerton, Wash. / Olympic CC).

CLOSING IN ON A RECORD: Alyssa Blackburn has a chance to establish a new Pacific Lutheran women's soccer record for goals against average in a single season. Currently, Blackburn has a 0.21 goals against average, ahead of the 0.24 recorded by PLU Hall of Fame member Gail Stenzel during the 1987 season. Head coach Jerrod Fleury has used a two-keeper rotation all season long, splitting the starts between Blackburn and Amanda Tschauner. Blackburn started the Whitworth match, which usually means that Tschauner will draw the start against Willamette and Blackburn the start against Linfield.

- PLU -