Box Score Contact: Mark Albanese, Director of Sports Communication
PORTLAND, Ore. - A pair of goals in the opening stanza and a suffocating defensive effort gave the 16th-ranked Pacific Lutheran University women's soccer team its sixth victory of the season on Sunday, dispatching Northwest Conference rival Lewis & Clark College 2-0 inside Griswold Stadium.
Kelly White put the Lutes (6-0-2, 3-0-1 NWC) on the board early for the second consecutive game, nailing a penalty kick in the 22nd minute. Kaylie Rozell added further separation in the 44th minute, netting her team leading third goal of the 2016 campaign as PLU enjoyed a two goal edge at the halftime intermission.
"I'm really proud of the team performance today. We played 19 players, we had to make a couple of adjustments and our team didn't miss a beat," said Head Coach Seth Spidahl.
"We attacked very well in the first half. I was proud because we weren't worried about what happened yesterday. We bounced back and attacked this game certainly felt like we deserved to win with our process."
The Lutes dominated the game statistically, with PLU accounting for 19 of the 22 shots taken in the game, including seven of the 10 landing on frame. Pacific Lutheran additionally held an 11-1 edge in corner kicks taken, securing its sixth clean sheet of the season.
"Kelly White stuck in another great penalty and Kaylie Rozell hit a good free kick. We had lots of other chances in the run of play and didn't so we still need to improve on finding ways to score within run of play but we'll take it on day two. It was warm out and that's Sunday soccer in the Northwest Conference, it's a bit of a grind. Got to be tough and physical and defend well and I thought our team with a little bit of adversity responded great."
Takara Mitsui needed to make just two stops in goal to net the shutout win, logging all 90 minutes between the posts. The Pioneers' (2-6, 1-3 NWC) Hannah Osmundson was tested early and often, making five saves and yielding two goals in the complete game effort.
The Lutes resume their road swing next weekend, traveling to Pacific University on Saturday before taking on Willamette University on Sunday. Both games are slated to kickoff at noon.
