Written by Student Assistant Christian Bond

TACOMA, Wash. – Kelsey Hathaway provided the the lone score of the afternoon on Sunday at East Field, helping the 23rd-ranked Pacific Lutheran University women's soccer team sweep the weekend with a 1-0 win over Northwest Conference rival Linfield College.

The defending NWC Champion Lutes (5-1, 2-0 NWC) controlled the pace through the entire first half, ripping off nine shots while not allowing the visiting Wildcats (3-3, 1-1 NWC) to get a shot off. The seal was broken in the 51st minute when Machaela Graddy served a beautiful ball that found the head of Hathaway. Hathaway did the rest for what would prove to be the game winner. Of the four goals PLU scored on the weekend, Graddy scored or assisted on all of them.

"Mac's finding ways to contribute offensively even if she's not scoring goals," head coach Seth Spidahl said. "The quality of the cross was very good."

Natalie Robinson had a relaxed day in goal for the Lutes. Linfield fired four shots, all coming in the second half. Robinson made two saves on her way to picking up her fifth shutout of the season.

The Lutes started conference play strong by sweeping the weekend, defeating Pacific University 3-0 on Saturday. Coach Spidahl was quick in giving his defense praise for their efforts, a unit that has now gone 379 minutes without allowing a goal.

"Our process was good today," Spidahl said. "We played really well. I was happy with our energy, our ball-winning ability, and our possession was good. Linfield is an athletic, direct team and we had to deal with that. Rachel Ross, Hailey Smoot, Brianna Hunting, and Kristi Kaneta were great down the middle winning headers. Overall, I'm very happy with how we played."

Pacific Lutheran wraps up its opening homestand on Wednesday, facing crosstown nemesis University of Puget Sound at 4 p.m.