TACOMA, Wash. --- The Pacific Lutheran Women's Soccer team (1-1-3, 0-0-1 NWC) continued their stretch of drawn matches on Saturday, beginning conference play with a 0-0 tie against Willamette (1-2-3, 0-1-1 NWC).
 
Willamette took the first shot of the game in the second minute, but the low-percentage look earned a save for Lutes goalkeeper Abby Winkler. From there the Lutes offense took over, taking seven shots in ten minutes, but the majority could not find the target. Senior Kayden Hulquist had the best chance, but glanced off the left post.
 
Olivia Boehm, Zoe Markquart, and Julia Causbie would add their own attempts into the mix, but also were not on target. The Bearcats did not attempt a shot in the first half after the 16-minute mark. Both teams remained tied at 0-0 enter the half.
 
Cecil and Boehm came out of the break, taking attempts that missed left of the goal. The Bearcats answered with a pair of shots of their own, but they all came from outside of the box, and were corralled by Winkler.
 
In the 60^th minute, Cecil's best look of the game found the crossbar and going over the net for a goal kick. Hulquist's third shot in the 67^th minute required a diving save by the Bearcats goalkeeper. The Lutes defense had a strong showing on Saturday, as Willamette's final shot attempt came in the 82^nd minute, unable to get past Winkler. PLU's consistent offensive pressure maintained throughout the remainder of the game, but they could not find the back of the net. The Lutes conference opener ended in a 0-0 draw.
 
Head Coach Seth Spidahl on his thoughts following Saturday's game: "I'm very proud of the effort we put on in the second half. Soccer can be a very hard game at times, and credit to Willamette they work really hard and battled well. I thought the second half we were in control and got some great opportunities, and for whatever reason we couldn't get one in. The quality of the chances were there, they just didn't go in. I'm proud of the team, conference journeys are unexpected and you never know how it's going to go. This was the first step and we have to learn from it and get better. The positive is we can still get better even with how good we played. We're looking forward to playing Linfield tomorrow, yet another strong opponent, and continue to get better as the conference journey moves on. Go Lutes!"
 
The Lutes offense possessed the ball for the majority of the game, where they fired 24 shots to the Bearcats six. Although, just seven of the Lutes shots were on target, the Bearcats managed five of their six total shots to be on frame. Cecil fired seven shots in the game, leading the Lutes, with three of which on-target. Hulquist and Boehm had four shots each, but just one was on goal. Winkler earned six saves in the game.
 
The Lutes look to break their draw streak tomorrow afternoon as they host Linfield at 2:45 p.m. on East Field.
 
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