SAN ANTONIO, Texas – When the Pacific Lutheran women's soccer team took the field Saturday night they were without their leading goal scorer.
It didn't matter, though.
The Lutes (17-1-3 overall) jumped out to a two-goal lead and then played enough of their signature defense to make it hold up, defeating Mary Hardin-Baylor 2-1 in the first round of the NCAA Division III National Tournament at Trinity University.
The Lutes were without forward Hannah Cecil and her 15 goals after she was injured in the regular-season finale last week.
"It was a little different without Hannah, but we were able to solve it," forward Alyssa Leong said. "Our outsides are really strong and we were able to combine with (Lily) Dose and Julia (Causbie)."
Leong had a goal and an assist as the Lutes won their first tournament game since 2017.
PLU will face host Trinity at 7 p.m. CST on Sunday with a berth to the Sweet Sixteen on the line.
"I challenged them before the game and gave them some examples of other teams who have had injuries to key players," PLU coach Seth Spidahl said. "We'd love to have Hannah, but she's not available and we needed others to step up.
"Alyssa was fantastic tonight."
Leong opened the scoring in the 43rd minute, taking a pass from Ashlee Gormley and slotting it home for a 1-0 lead.
"Ash played a wonderful ball through," Leong said. "I saw a defender on her toes and I went one way and then another and once I got in space, I hit it to the far post."
It was Leong's eighth goal of the season.
That score held until the 58th minute when Leong found Kayden Hulquist, who put the ball into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead. It was Hulquist's third goal of the season.
The defense then went to work suffocating an opponent as it has so many times this season.
Mary Hardin-Baylor (17-1-1) did pull a goal back in the 79th, but the Lutes held on from there.
"They had a really dynamic, attacking forward and she was everywhere and a handful," Spidahl said. "Ella (Merte), Joelle (Buck) and Kaitlyn (McDougal), Ellie (Reardon) and Keila (Kruse) have done great for us and were solid and steady. Shay was solid in goal as always.
"I'm proud of them because there was pressure put on them, especially late in the game. They always do their jobs and that is why we are where we are."
PLU will now attempt to make program history when they take on Trinity on Sunday.
Trinity defeated PLU 2-1 in the first round in 2019.
"To win our first game and be 90 minutes away from the Sweet 16, it's huge," Spidahl said. "I'm super proud of them. This is an environment they haven't been in before. Overall, I'm ecstatic that we got the win."
