McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Hannah Cecil scored twice in the first half and freshman Abby Winkler came up huge in goal as the Pacific Lutheran women's soccer team made it stand up with a 2-1 victory Sunday at Linfield in Northwest Conference action.
The victory runs the Lutes (11-1-2, 8-1-1 NWC) unbeaten streak to seven games.
Cecil scored in the 15th minute off an assist from Lily Dose, rounding the goalie for an open netter. She grabbed her second in the 37th minute off of a beautiful through ball by Olivia Boehm to make it 2-0.
"We had a very good first half," PLU coach Seth Spidahl said. "We got off to a great start thanks to a couple of goals by Diesel (Hannah Cecil)."
The Wildcats (3-6-5, 1-5-4) pulled one back in the 48th minute as Laney Green scored a header off of a corner kick by Mia Curtaz.
Less than two minutes later, Linfield was awarded a penalty kick but Winkler stopped it and the Lutes defense held from there.
"We didn't start the second half with the right energy and they got some life from the goal," Spidahl said. "I'm proud of the team for gathering character and getting the win. We felt like we could have started better and not made it so hard on ourselves, but credit to Linfield. They were much better than the first time we played them."
In the first meeting, the Lutes defeated the Wildcats 3-0 at East Field.
"I'm proud of the discipline we grew into in the second half," Spidahl said. "Now, we have to get ready for our crosstown rivals."
The Lutes play at Puget Sound at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
