SAN ANTONIO - The Pacific Lutheran University women's soccer team opened up the 2018 season battling #12 Trinity (Texas) to a scoreless draw on Friday evening.

"I am really proud of the team tonight," head coach Seth Spidahl said.  "Trinity is ranked #12 in the nation, a perennial ranked program and we played them at home.  We have a tradition since 2014 of opening up against good opponents and really performing well.  This current group of players did outstanding."

The host Tigers owned a slim 13-10 edge in shots over the course of the double overtime contest, but the Lutes came away with a 3-2 edge in shots on goal.  Natalie Robinson spent all 120 minutes in goal making all three saves.

"This team showed some real toughness, grit, and fight to not lose the game in overtime.  I think you build toughness early on, and we built some tonight.  We played a good opponent in a system we were not necessarily ready for, but the players brought the right energy and competitive spirit and attitude and we were able to sort it out tactically.  We got some good looks to score, too. Overall, extremely happy with our first step."

"We play tough games early so we can build toughness to prepare us for when we will really need it in conference play.  This was a good first step, Emory is another good team and we are excited about how we started and kicked off the 2018 season."

The Lutes close our their Texas roadtrip when they take on Emory University on Sunday at 9 a.m.