SALEM – Pacific Lutheran avenged its lone loss of the 2015 season to this point as the 20th-ranked Lutes took an early lead and added two more goals to claim a 3-0 Northwest Conference women's soccer win over Willamette Saturday afternoon.

Willamette handed PLU its first – and to this point only – loss of the season last month with a 2-0 defeat of the Lutes, and Saturday's contest matched up the top two teams in the NWC standings at the halfway point of the conference season. The Lutes earned the season split and solidified their spot atop the conference standings with the win, improving to 11-1-1 overall and 7-1-1 in conference play. Willamette fell to 6-7-1 overall and 6-4 in conference play.

"We knew coming into this game this is a tough environment to play in," PLU head coach Seth Spidahl said. "Willamette is a team that has had a great conference season, so I'm really proud of our group today."

Jamie Hoffman got the Lutes on the board early, taking a pass from Ashley Mindnich and knocking it in from 10 yards out in the eighth minute of play. Taylor Lunde made it a 2-0 match on an 18-yard shot for her sixth goal of the season after she took the ball off a Willamette defender in the 35th minute. Hoffman then put it away in the 61st minute off a through ball from Lunde for her fourth goal of the season.

"Jamie stepped up big time with her two goals, and Taylor kept her attacking presence on point with a goal and an assist," Spidahl said. "Our team defending and goalkeeping was solid as well, so overall it was a great start to the weekend."

The Lutes picked up the win despite an 18-12 Willamette shot advantage that included an 11-5 Bearcat shot differential in the second half. The Bearcats also ended the day with a 5-3 lead on corner kicks, but Takara Mitsui made eight saves to clinch her 11th shutout of the season. PLU's sixth straight shutout marked the longest shutout streak for the team since 1990, when the Lutes shut out nine consecutive opponents.

"Willamette is a team that's known to bring high energy and play physical, and I thought we came out with a lot of energy and kept our composure throughout the game," Hoffman said. "It was good to have another game where we scored multiple goals. This team is really getting into a flow and playing well together, and I'm excited to see us continue to get better and better each game.

PLU will look to build on its three-point NWC and extend its shutout streak Sunday, when the Lutes travel to Portland to take on Lewis & Clark at 12 p.m.