TACOMA, Wash. — A Hannah Cecil penalty kick goal was all that was needed on Saturday afternoon as the seven-time defending Northwest Conference Champion Pacific Lutheran University women's soccer team relied on its defense to keep Whitman College off the scoreboard in a 1-0 victory at East Field.

"Whitman was a tough game today. They're a good team, Michelle has done a phenomenal job building that program up. We weren't successful against the last year either time so we knew it would be a hard game," said Head Coach Seth Spidahl.

"We didn't play our best football today but it was one of those days we needed some championship grit and defend good and be opportunistic. I think the players recognized we could have done a little better in the first half. Shout out to Kayden Hulquist who was very inspirational with her talk at halftime and her play in the second half. She drew the penalty. Hannah Cecil with great confidence to take it. Lily Dose had great defending in the second half for us. Kelen Betts came off and gave us a great second performance."

The two teams battled to a scoreless stalemate after 45 minutes of play with just three shots attempted— all off the boots of Lute players.

PLU (7-1-3, 6-0-1 NWC) broke through in the 67^th minute with Hannah Cecil converting a penalty kick for her team-leading sixth goal of the season. It was also Cecil's second game winning goal of the fall as neither team was able to find the back of the net over the final 23 minutes of action.
 
The final stats were tilted heavily in favor of the hosts. PLU enjoyed an 11-2 edge in shots, including two of the three taken on target. The Lutes additionally had seven corner kicks to the Blues' (6-4-1, 3-3-1 NWC) two.

Abby Winkler needed to make just one save of the day to secure her fifth shutout of the season. 
 
The Lutes are back on the turf tomorrow afternoon, hosting Whitworth University at 2:45 p.m.