NEWBERG, Ore. — Alyssa Leong tied a school single game record for assists while Hannah Cecil netted a hat-trick as the six-time reigning Northwest Conference Champion Pacific Lutheran University women's soccer team dropped the hammer on George Fox University on Saturday afternoon, pummeling the hosts 8-1 at the Austin Sports Complex.
 
The host Bruins (2-3-2, 0-2-1 NWC) drew first blood, with Willa Evans converting a penalty kick in the 13thminute. It would be all Lutes (4-2-1, 2-1 NWC) after that, piling on five over the final 22 minutes of the half. Hannah Cecil netted the equalizer on a pass from Kayden Hulquist in the 24th minute before Cecil struck again for the game winner just 83 seconds later off a feed from Loeng.
 
Leong made it 3-1 in the 26th minute before getting her second assist of the day on a Lily Dose goal in the 30th minute. Zoe Markquart tallied her first collegiate goal in the 37th minute, finding the back of the net off a pass from Olivia Boehm as the visiting Lutes enjoyed a 5-1 advantage at the halftime intermission.

"It was a very weird start going down early on a penalty kick goal. We didn't see that coming but our group showed amazing character and just kept chipping away. All of a sudden we look up and we've scored four goals and are up 5-1 at the half," said Head Coach Seth Spidahl.

Dose scored her second goal of the match in the 60th minute off a pass from Leong while the Cecil and Leong connection struck again in the 61st minute. The goal gave Cecil her second career hat-trick. The junior and reigning NWC Offensive Player of the Week has now scored six goals in the past three games. Leong's helper on the goal was her fourth of the game, matching a school single game assists record that has been held by Sonya Brandt (four) since 1986. 
 
Liv Olson added PLU's eighth and final goal in the 86th minute, scoring her first collegiate goal on a pass from Joslyn Kruse.
 
Abby Winkler made five saves in 71 minutes of work in goal while Samantha Nelson suited up in goal for the final 19 minutes of the game. 
 
PLU's seven-goal outburst was the program's biggest offensive output under current Head Coach Seth Spidahl and was the most goals scored by the Lutes since blasting Whitman College 9-0 during the 1998 season. 

"Hannah was on fire today with a hat-trick and obviously great to see Alyssa and her record setting performance. It was great to get everyone on the field, I think it shows the potential of this group. And the exciting thing for me is we can still get so much better in all facets of the game. We're only in game three of conference and we still have a ton to work on and improve, but it is very exciting to see that we have potential to score goals. We have a very electric attacking team when we are playing well and firing on all cylinders."

The Lutes are back on the pitch tomorrow afternoon, facing Linfield University at noon in McMinnville, Oregon. 

"We need to stay humble, it was one game, and we're 0-0. Linfield's been doing really well this year so we know it's a tough game there tomorrow and we need to recover and get ready for it."