TACOMA, WASH. --- The Pacific Lutheran Women's Soccer team captured their seventh consecutive Northwest Conference championship on Sunday at East Field, as they defeated the Lewis & Clark Pioneers 2-0.
 
It was senior day on East Field as an array of Lute seniors made an appearance in the game. With their sights set on adding another NWC trophy to the case, the offense got going early, with points-leader and senior Hannah Cecil putting the Lutes up 1-0 in the 13^th minute. Once again, the Lutes dominated the time of possession, not allowing the Pioneers to pose a threat.
 
The Lutes offensive regulars applied the pressure with shots coming from seniors Alyssa Leong and Sawyer Anderson, as well as freshman Lyla Merte. The tough Lutes defense featuring senior Joelle Buck and junior Kayden Hulquist allowed just one shot that was saved by sophomore goalkeeper Abby Winkler.
 
The Lutes starters returned for the second half as they looked to add an insurance goal to their 1-0 lead. Freshman defenseman Lyla Merte continued to find herself open in the Pioneers box on consecutive Lutes corner kicks. Finally, the youngest Merte sister scored the first goal of her PLU career in the 54^th minute as the ball crept into the bottom left corner of the Pios goal.
 
With a 2-0 lead, the Pioneers attempted to put the pressure on with a pair of shots in the 70^th minute, but one missed and the latter was saved by Winkler. In the final 10 minutes of the game, Head Coach Seth Spidahl made a change to bring some of his senior reserves into the game. Seniors Samantha Nelson, Riley Shaver, Marina Foster, Meghan Michels, Cecilia Coca-Aitken, and Sophia Jeter made their way into the game.
 
The reserve squad would hold the Pioneers without a shot for the final 20 minutes of the game and would go on to defeat the Pioneers 2-0, and secure their seventh-consecutive Northwest Conference Championship with two games left to play.
 
"I'm super proud to send our seniors off with a successful senior day, a win and a clinch of the seventh straight championship. That is not easy to do, and I am very proud of the entire team for having the maturity this weekend. I'm glad we are able to make it to the postseason once again. That's always a goal of ours. We use the term "Legacy" to push us to make it to the NCAA Tournament. Our first goal was to take care of the Northwest Conference, we had some ups and downs, but we went through the journey and I couldn't be more delighted. We look forward to getting ready for another tough week, we know that hosting UPS will be an NCAA Playoff-type atmosphere. We've got two tough games to help us prepare for the Tournament this week. Excited to see everyone out there on Wednesday! Go Lutes!" said Head Coach Seth Spidahl following the win.
 
The Lutes made their presence known in the box score as well as they outshot the Pioneers, 11-4, with four shots on net. Winkler made two total saves in the game, meanwhile the Pioneers keeper made two in the first half and none in the second. Commonly, the Lutes lead in the corner kick category by a score of 12-1.
 
The Lutes move their sights to hosting the cross-town rivals in the Puget Sound Loggers on Wednesday at 4 p.m. on East Field.
 
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