Oct. 24, 2007

WOMEN’S SOCCER: Lutes Face the Whits in Eastern Washington

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran at Whitman, Saturday, noon; PLU at Whitworth, Sunday, noon.

Karin Hatch

Courtney Walker

PLU TRAVELS EAST: Pacific Lutheran’s final four matches are on the road, and the initial two of those four come this weekend in the eastern part of the state. The Lutes (4-10-2 overall, 3-8-1 NWC) face Whitman (8-5-3 overall, 7-3-2 NWC) in Walla Walla on Saturday before traveling north to Spokane to meet Whitworth (14-1-0 overall, 11-1-0 NWC) on Sunday. The Lutes tied Whitman, 1-1 in double overtime, back on Sept. 30, and dropped a heart-breaking 2-1 overtime decision to the Pirates the previous day. In that match, the Lutes held a 1-0 lead until the 89th minute when Whitworth scored the tying goal. It scored the match winner early in the overtime, and as it turned out that victory has kept the Pirates within striking distance of unbeaten Puget Sound. In fact, UPS and Whitworth, the top two teams in the standings, play a crucial Northwest Conference match at noon on Saturday in Spokane.

LUTES SCORCH THE NETS: The Lutes have had their share of goal-scoring woes this season, but they have shown the ability to put the ball into the back of the net during the last two home matches. They tallied four times in an Oct. 13 win over Lewis & Clark, and they scored five more last Sunday in a 5-1 victory over the Pacific Boxers. It didn’t take long for the Lutes to get on the scoreboard as Amanda Crawford used her shin to redirect Monica Beard’s cross into the goal just 1:19 into the match. For Crawford, it was her second goal of the season. Courtney Walker scored her first goal of the season and gave PLU its second of the match with a left-footed rocket at the 12:48 mark. Lauren Northcutt, who had two assists in the match, set up the play with a pass through the defense. PLU made 3-0 when Karin Hatch scored her first goal of the season, taking a pass from Lauren Meyer and scoring from close range. The Lutes led 3-0 at the half, though the Boxers had an 8-7 shot advantage at that point. PLU goalkeeper Amanda Tschauner came up with five saves in the opening 45 minutes. PLU scored its fourth goal just 18 seconds into the second half. Again, a nice diagonal pass from Northcutt found Beard running free down the right side, and she shot back across to the left side of the goal to put the Lutes on top, 4-0. The Boxers got one back at 52:22 when Lauren Kanda tallied her first goal of the season, and PLU finished the scoring at 71:43 when Jenae Poe shot the ball into the net following Walker’s corner kick.

LUTES BY THE NUMBERS: As a team, the Lutes have scored 20 goals in their 16 matches, led by Melissa Buitrago with four goals and Monica Beard with three. A total of 11 different players have scored goals for the Lutes.

- PLU -