SALEM, Ore. – Pacific Lutheran's five match win streak came to a halt Friday, as Willamette made a first-half goal stand up for a 1-0 Northwest Conference women's soccer victory over the first-place Lutes at Sparks Field.
Pacific Lutheran (14-4-1, 12-3 NWC) came into the day needing a win in either of its final two regular-season matches to clinch at least a share of its first Northwest Conference title since 1992. The Bearcats (3-14-2, 2-11-2 NWC) made sure the Lutes would not earn that title on Friday, and with Puget Sound picking up a win the Lutes and Loggers are now tied atop the conference standings heading into Saturday's regular season finales. PLU will visit Linfield for an 11 a.m. kickoff on Saturday in a match that has been moved to McMinnville High School due to field conditions, while UPS wraps the regular season at home against Lewis & Clark on Saturday.
"I'm really proud of our team today," PLU head coach Seth Spidahl said. "We did everything we could to score, but just didn't have the final touch we needed for a goal. Credit to our players, as they poured everything they had into the game; sometimes you need a 'break' in soccer to get a result regardless of how well you played."
Both goalkeepers were busy in Friday's match, as PLU maintained pressure on the Willamette defense throughout and forced Emily Sewall to make seven saves to earn the shutout. Takara Mitsui saved four shots, while the team picked up one save, but it was the Bearcats' first shot on goal of the day that made the difference. McKenzie Andringa took a cross from Malia Simpson 11 yards in front of the goal in the 29th minute and knocked it in for what proved to be the lone goal of the match
Machaela Graddy had probably the Lutes' best chance to score in the second half. With just under five minutes remaining, Graddy took a long pass and raced past two Willamette defenders for a 15-yard breakaway shot. Unfortunately for the Lutes, Sewall made the save to keep PLU off the board.
PLU finished the day with a 17-9 shot advantage, including 11-5 in the second half, and the Lutes had 10 corner kicks to only two for Willamette. Graddy finished with a team-high three shots on goal, while both Emily Hanna and Kaylie Rozell tallied a pair of on-target attempts.
The Lutes head to McMinnville looking to complete a season sweep of Linfield for the first time since 2005 after defeating the Wildcats 1-0 at home last month. Meanwhile, Linfield will be looking to avenge last season's 3-2 double-overtime PLU win in the regular season finale that helped prevent the Wildcats from earning an NCAA postseason at-large bid.
Linfield is three points behind PLU and UPS in the conference standings, meaning a Wildcat win paired with a UPS loss Saturday would create a three-way tie atop the standings and a split conference championship. If that were to happen, Puget Sound would hold the three-way tiebreaker advantage to earn the conference's automatic NCAA bid. If PLU ties or wins on Saturday and Puget Sound does the same to create a two-way tie, the Lutes would earn the automatic bid due to a tiebreaker advantage over the Loggers.
"We have to park it and move on, as we still have everything to play for and control our own destiny," Spidahl said. "I'm excited to see how our team responds."
