PARKLAND – With emotions already high for Senior Day, Pacific Lutheran sent them through the roof with a 3-2 double-overtime upset victory over No. 25 Linfield in Northwest Conference women's soccer action Saturday at East Field.
Pacific Lutheran closes out the year with an 11-4-5 overall record and a 9-2-5 conference mark (32 points), ranked third in the conference standings behind only Puget Sound (41) and Linfield (34). The Wildcats fall to 15-4-1 overall and 11-4-1 in conference play.
"It was a really dramatic game with lots of ups and downs," PLU head coach Seth Spidahl said. "We showed good resilience; we came back and scored two goals in the first half, so I was really proud of our character to respond. Then we kind of hung tough all through the second half."
The Lutes send out the senior class of Samantha Benner, Kristi D'Alessandro, Mariah Rasmussen and Alex Murray in strong fashion, clinching the program's first win over Linfield since 2009. The Wildcats had won the last seven matchups between the teams, including a 2-1 win over PLU last month in McMinnville.
"It's a huge lift for our program," Spidahl said. "It's the first time we've beaten Linfield in a while, and certainly they've been perennially one of the top two teams in the conference. That's kind of our next step for PLU women's soccer, is to arrive and be one of those top two teams and compete for the conference title every year."
PLU finishes the season with 11 wins – the first double-digit win total for the Lutes since 2006 ties the 2005 and 2006 squads for the most wins for PLU since the 1995 team won 12 matches – and a top-three conference finish. That ties the 2005 team for the Lutes' highest conference finish since the 1994 team placed second. PLU's four losses are the fewest in a season since the 1992 team finished 19-3-2.
"I really feel like it gives us a lot of momentum going into next year, and I couldn't be happier for our four seniors," Spidahl said.
Northwest Conference scoring leader and 2012 Offensive Player of the Year Emily Fellows put Linfield on the board less than three minutes into the match, heading a shot in from seven yards out off a pass from Marie Johanson. But the Lutes responded 11 minutes later when Lauren Larson passed to D'Alessandro about 10 yards in front of the net for the tying goal.
The Lutes claimed their first lead against Linfield in the 35th minute of play, when Kaylie Rozell found AJ Fischer about 10 yards in front of the goal all alone for the shot that sailed just to the upper right of Linfield goalkeeper Taylor Collinsworth.
Linfield came out strong in the second half, tying it up in the 54th minute on a close-range goal by Tegan Grunwald after PLU goalkeeper Takara Mitsui deflected a free kick shot by Fellows. The Lutes' best shot to reclaim the lead came in the 79th minute when Amy Hammerquist saved Kailey Lyman's penalty kick attempt.
The Wildcats' offensive pressure led to numerous opportunities for the visitors, as Linfield out-shot PLU 14-to-6 after halftime and finished the match with a 7-0 corner kick advantage. It looked like the Wildcats had clinched the victory in the first overtime, when a shot by Grunwald snuck past PLU goalkeeper Marisa Gonzalez and appeared destined to cross into the goal before D'Alessandro broke through to save the ball for the Lutes.
Blake Warner gave PLU the Golden Goal in the 106th minute of play with a long shot off a pass from Murray. As Warner's goal arced over the reach of Hammerquist and into the net, the PLU bench emptied as the Lutes rushed onto the field to celebrate the Senior Day victory.
"We couldn't have asked for a better way to end our season and end our career at PLU," Benner said. "It's been so much fun being a part of the journey, and I'm really excited to see where the team goes."
