Oct. 2, 2007

WOMEN’S SOCCER: Lutes Still Battle Despite Dwindling Numbers

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran hosts Willamette, Saturday, noon; PLU hosts Linfield at Curtis HS, Sunday, 11 a.m.

SUNDAY MATCH LOCATION AND TIME CHANGES: Pacific Lutheran will host a pair of Northwest Conference opponents this Saturday and Sunday, though there has been a change in location and time for Sunday's match. The Lutes will host Willamette at noon on Saturday on the PLU field, which has taken a great deal of rain and will take more this week. The field is already in tough shape, but should be good enough for Saturday’s women’s and men’s matches. Because of the expected wear to the field, Sunday's match against Linfield has been moved to Curtis High School in University Place and will start at 11 a.m.

ABOUT WILLAMETTE: Willamette, a perennial regional – if not national - powerhouse in Division III women’s soccer, is definitely young, and down, this year. The Bearcats, who lost eight senior starters from last season’s team, come into Saturday’s match tied with PLU for seventh in the Northwest Conference standings, both with 1-4-1 records. Overall, the Bearcats are 2-5-1 and have scored 10 goals while allowing 13. Lauren Miller leads the Bearcats with four goals this season. Kelli Gano and Lo Holohan have shared the goalkeeper minutes and have a combined 1.58 goals against average.

ABOUT LINFIELD: The Wildcats, who host George Fox on Saturday in their fifth straight home match, are 3-3 and occupy fourth place in the Northwest Conference standings. Linfield’s overall record is 4-4-1, which is reflected in the fact that it has scored 14 goals and allowed 14 goals this season. Amber Calcagno and Emma Triplett both have three goals to lead the Wildcats in that category, while Kelsey Hasselblad has a 1.52 goals against averaged while playing every minute in goal.

Jill Trumbull

INJURIES DEPLETE PLU ROSTER: A season marred by injuries moved to epidemic proportions when a pair of Pacific Lutheran starters went down during last weekend’s matches. On Saturday against Whitworth, sophomore midfielder Jill Trumbull received treatment for a gash on her head inadvertently caused by an opponents’ errant elbow. A visit to the hospital showed that the wound had been well-treated by assistant athletic trainer Jen Thomas, but it also brought out the fact that earlier in the game Trumbull had suffered a broken collarbone and continued playing. She has been ruled out the remainder of the season. The following day, starting midfielder Lauren Northcutt separated her right shoulder in the opening minutes of the Whitman match when her arm caught under her on a slide tackle. She will be out at least a couple of weeks. These two add to a growing list of Lutes who have suffered injuries of varying degrees. Freshman forward Cheryl Burris scored two goals before suffering knee ligament damage against George Fox, and she is done for the year. Defender Lauren Meyer also suffered minor knee ligament damage early in the year and she made her return to the field only when Northcutt went down against Whitman. Freshman midfielder Megan O’Rourke suffered a gash above her eye against George Fox and showed concussion symptoms, forcing her to miss three matches. All of the above-mentioned players are, or were, starters for the Lutes.

Amanda Tschauner

HEARTBREAKING LOSS TO WHITWORTH: Whitworth’s Whitney Ramsey scored the tying goal in the 89th minute and Kaylyn Plumb scored the winning goal in the second minute of overtime to lead the Whitworth Pirates past Pacific Lutheran, 2-1, in a Northwest Conference match played here last Saturday. The loss was particularly difficult for PLU because Whitworth came into the match ranked No. 8 in Division III women’s soccer. The host Lutes led 1-0 on a first half penalty kick, Melissa Buitrago converting for her third goal of the season. PLU also had another first half penalty kick that Pirates goalkeeper Krista Dietz smothered. The Lutes weathered Whitworth’s 10-shot attack in the second half until the final two minutes when Ramsey ran onto Kelly Lunde’s pass over the top of the PLU defense and scored her third goal of the season. Plumb ended the game with an unassisted goal, her fifth of the year. The Pirates out-shot the Lutes, 16-6, forcing PLU goalkeeper Amanda Tschauner to make eight saves. The visitors also enjoyed a 10-5 advantage in corner kicks.
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LUTES, MISSIONARIES BATTLE TO DRAW: Pacific Lutheran and Whitman battled to a 1-1 double-overtime tie in a conference match played on Sunday at the PLU field. Both goals came in the second half, the Lutes getting on the scoreboard first at 63:26 on Monica Beard’s second tally of the season. Beard was in the right spot when a Whitman defender headed Christina McDuffie’s shot off the line. The ball bounced to Beard, and she fired a shot past Whitman keeper Courtney Porter and into the left side of the net. As they had the previous day against Whitworth, however, the Lutes were unable to hold onto the lead as the Missionaries scored at 82:37 with Corina Gabbert doing the honors. Like Beard, Gabbert was in the right place following a goal mouth scramble, taking a pass from Jennifer Doane and hitting a first-time shot past Amanda Tschauner for the goal. The match was evenly played as Whitman finished with 13 shots and three corner kicks to 11 shots and three corner kicks for the host Lutes. Both goalkeepers were busy as Tschauner finished with eight saves while Porter ended up with seven.

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