Puget Sound broke away from a scoreless halftime tie with a trio of second half goals to beat host Pacific Lutheran, 3-0, in a Wednesday afternoon Northwest Conference women's soccer game played at the PLU field.

The Loggers improved their overall record to 6-2 and strengthened their grip on first place in the conference with a 4-1 record. PLU, meanwhile, suffered its third straight shutout and fourth consecutive defeat and is now 2-5 overall and 1-4 in the conference.

After out-shooting the Lutes by a 6-1 margin in the first half, Puget Sound got on the board in the 58th minute on an own goal by the PLU defense. The Loggers grabbed the momentum and scored twice more within a 70-second time frame. Christine Isabella tallied her sixth goal of the season when she blocked a clearance outside the box by PLU goal keeper Lauren Chambard and then stabbed the ball home from about 16 yards out. That goal came at the 65:45 mark. At 66:55, Jenny Moore got her first goal of the campaign when her well-timed run through the defense matched up with Isabella's through ball. Moore rolled the shot past Chambard to make the score 3-0.

Both teams hit the goal frame in the second half, PLU's Blake Warner rattling the cross bar and Puget Sound's Robin Vieira hitting the far post.

The Loggers out-shot the Lutes, 17-2, putting 11 of their shots on goal. Chambard finished with five saves and Laurie Reddy added three in the final 19 1/2 minutes. Puget Sound also took 11 corner kicks to none for PLU.

The Lutes return to NWC action at noon on Sunday when they travel to Forest Grove, Ore., to face the Pacific Boxers.

- PLU -