WALLA WALLA - 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.

Playing on a sunny day, Whitman (5-8-1 overall, 4-7 NWC) 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.  

Gabbert's big day polished off a big week in which she collected six goals in three games. Despite missing a pair of games to injury early in the season, the Missionary senior has 11 goals and four assists in 12 games, which ranks her second in the NWC in scoring.

The Lutes took 19 shots in the game, forcing nine saves from Whitman keeper Courtney Porter.

(Courtesy of Whitman Sports Information Office.)