TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University women's golf team will be hitting the links for the first time this weekend as they take on crosstown rivals University of Puget Sound in a dual-match at Oakbrook Golf Course.

The Lutes are coming off a 2019-2020 season where they were unable to play in a spring tournament due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, so the last time the Lutes played in a competitive tournament was October 19th and 20th of 2019, over 500 days ago. In that tournament the Lutes placed fourth in the Confluence Classic hosted by Whitman College. 

Head coach Sara Griffin will be leading the Lutes in her fifth season as head coach. Griffin has helped take the Lutes from the lower half of the Northwest Conference standings to third in the 2019-2020 season. Griffith will have a nearly full complement of players returning as the lone senior on last years roster was Sami Briney. 

The 2021 Lutes will be led by their three seniors in Sophie Kass, Lila Ridge, and Nicole Matiatos. 

"As our team is currently senior heavy, we're looking forward to sending the seniors off with a fun and competitive final season. Also we are excited to be able to showcase our skills and the improvement we have seen during this past year of no competition," said Matiatos. 

Although the Lutes haven't been able to experience any tournament action, they have been staying prepared.

"We've focusing on our short game skills and playing competitive rounds with varying formats against one another," said Matiatos. 

This year's schedule will look slightly different for the Lutes. Normally the women's golf team would play in about 4-5 spring tournaments, however due to the ongoing pandemic the Lutes will play in three conference majors against all the Northwest Conference institutions, and then they will have a dual matches against UPS to round out their schedule.