2009 Season Comes to an End This Weekend
THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran at Willamette, Friday, 11 a.m.; PLU at George Fox, Saturday, 11 a.m.
LUTES TIE PACIFIC IN HOME FINALE: The Pacific Lutheran women's soccer team tied in its final home game after a 110-minute faceoff against the visiting Pacific Boxers. The match, played last Sunday, ended in a 3-3 tie at the PLU field and brought the Lute's conference record to 4-9-1. Seniors honors were presented to Meredith Newby, Karin Hatch and Monica Beard before their final home match. The Lutes got on the board first at 14:33 when Beard drilled home a 25-yard blast after picking up a loose ball in Pacific's defensive end. The Boxers tied it at 38:24 on the first of Ashley Kanda's three goals. PLU broke the deadlock at the 57:06 mark on Olivia Lee's fifth goal of the season. Slightly more than four minutes later, Pacific had the tying goal on Kanda's penalty kick. The Lutes took a 3-2 lead at 66:31 on Karli Hurlbut's sixth goal of the season. PLU was within four minutes of claiming a victory in its final home match of the season until Kanda finished off her hat trick with 10-yard shot.
FINAL TWO IN OREGON: The Lutes (5-12-1 overall, 4-9-1 NWC) will play their final two games of the season on the road against Willamette and George Fox. On Saturday, PLU faces Willamette, which posts a record of 7-6-1 in conference. The Bearcats are currently third in the Northwest Conference standings behind Puget Sound and Whitworth. In the previous matchup against Willamette, the Lutes lost 2-0. Sunday, the Lutes play George Fox for their last scheduled match of the 2009 season. The Bruins are having a rough season with a conference record of 4-10-0 and trail the seventh-place Lutes by one spot in the standings. PLU defeated George Fox, 1-0, in the first round of conference play. The Bruins picked up a much-needed win last weekend against Oregon opponent, Lewis & Clark, after being on a five-game losing streak. The final away matches begin with Willamette on Saturday and George Fox on Sunday, starting at 11 a.m.
SEASON STATISTICS: Entering the final weekend of play, sophomore Karli Hurlbut leads the Lutes in goals with six. Closely following Hurlbut is sophomore Olivia Lee with a total of five goals, and senior Karin Hatch with three goals. Courtney Walker leads the Lutes in assists with four, while also tallying two goals. Lauren Chambard has 97 saves this season with a .746 save percentage.
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