PARKLAND – For the second straight day the Pacific Lutheran offense exploded for four goals as the Lutes concluded an undefeated nonconference schedule with a 4-0 win over California Lutheran Saturday afternoon.

With the win, Pacific Lutheran improved to a perfect 4-0 and owns a 12-0 goal differential. The win was the Lutes' first against California Lutheran since 2007, completing a three-year buildup for the Lute program against a Regal squad that has won four of the last five Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles.

"It was a great win for our program today," PLU head coach Seth Spidahl said. "We played Cal Lutheran in 2013 and lost 4-0; we went down and played them last year at their place and tied 0-0, and then we finally got them at home. They're an NCAA program with lots of tradition, the top team in the SCIAC. And they're going to have a good year; they're a good team. We had a good day."

Emily Hanna got the Lutes on the board in the 30th minute of play following several strong chances and a couple outstanding saves by California Lutheran goalkeeper Coral Hasley. Hanna had Hasley one-on-one in the box, and after Hasley blocked Hanna's first shot the PLU senior rebounded the ball and knocked it right in for her first goal of the season. That lead held up for the rest of the first period.

Machaela Graddy helped put the match away for the Lutes with a pair of goals in a six-minute stretch of the second half. In the 61st minute she took a short pass from Jamie Hoffman on the left side of the box and shot it in from close range for her third goal of the year. Her next goal featured an unlikely assist, as PLU goalkeeper Takara Mitsui launched a 70-yard goal kick down the middle of the field to a streaking Graddy who found the net from 20 yards out for her second goal of the day and Mitsui's first career assist.

Taylor Lunde capped the win for the Lutes in the 83rd minute off a pass from Ashley Mindnich in the middle. Lunde took the ball on the left side from close range and dropped it in. PLU finished the day with 19 shots, while California Lutheran tallied 14. Both goalkeepers made numerous impressive saves as Mitsui claimed her fourth straight shutout with eight saves and Hasley totaled six saves.

While the PLU offense was on full display with the four goals, the Lute defense also stood strong throughout to extend PLU opponents' scoreless streak to 360 minutes to open the season. Even as Graddy scored two goals, she praised the efforts of the defense in the win.

"Our defense has been playing great over and over, and our final third really stepped it up today to finish off the shutout and the weekend," Graddy said. "It was just a good win overall and a great team effort. We really wanted to make a couple of our injured players proud and show for them that we care about them and that this is a complete team effort whether they're on the field or not."

As PLU has improved its win totals in each of the last three seasons, the Lutes continue to build on 2014's historic season with another milestone Saturday. PLU's 4-0 nonconference record marks the Lutes' best start to a season since 1998 and the first time the Lutes have put together a perfect nonconference record since joining the NCAA nearly 20 years ago.

"I'm really proud of our team because it shows the evolution, and as a coach what you want to see is your group improving," Spidahl said. "If you look at the three-year buildup to today, we have gotten better. I challenged the group today that this is going to be an NCAA playoff, top-level Northwest Conference-sort of game, and we hadn't necessarily seen that yet, and they responded. I couldn't be more proud of them."

PLU follows Saturday's match with another NCAA playoff-level competition Wednesday, as the Lutes open Northwest Conference play against cross-town rival and 13-time defending NWC champion Puget Sound. The Lutes host the Loggers, with kickoff set for 4 p.m.