Setting the Scene: The Lutes are back home! The reigning Northwest Conference Champion Pacific Lutheran University men's and women's soccer teams open up their home slate with a pair of games on the new turf at East Field. Football opens the season in California against rival California Lutheran University while volleyball heads to Wisconsin for three matches in America's Dairyland.

FRIDAY:
MSOC hosts Wheaton (Ill.) at East Field (1 p.m.)
WSOC hosts California Lutheran at East Field (5 p.m.)
VB at Wisconsin-Whitewater in Whitewater, Wis. (7 p.m. Central)
SATURDAY:
VB vs. Concordia (Wis.) in Whitewater, Wis. (11 a.m. Central)
FB vs. California Lutheran in Thousand Oaks, Calif. (1 p.m.)
VB vs. Elmhurst (Ill.) in Whitewater, Wis. (3 p.m. Central)
SUNDAY:
WSOC hosts Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) at East Field (12 p.m.)
MSOC hosts California-Santa Cruz at East Field (2 p.m.)

Get with the Flo: This summer the Northwest Conference signed an exclusive five-year deal with FloSports to be the live streaming platform of the Lutes and the rest of the conference.
 
Make sure to sign up for FloSports today so you don't miss any of the action at home or on the road. Sign up today: LINK
 
PLU Fall Youth Sports Days: The Lutes have partnered with El Toro Mexican Restaurant & Cantina to host four youth sports days this fall. To get free tickets to the youth sports day for a child and a guest use promo code LutesYouthSports25 at golutes.com/tickets.

The fall dates are Sept. 7 for both men's and women's soccer, Sept. 13 for football, and Sept. 19 for volleyball. 

Learn more: LINK

Women's Soccer: The 23rd-ranked Lutes (0-0-2) opened up the season last weekend in Texas, coming away with a pair of ties. Liv Olson provided an equalizer goal in the 62nd minute last Friday in a 1-1 stalemate with University of Saint Thomas while Kiana Gutierrez tallied a goal in five minutes into the second half in a 1-1 draw with 10th-ranked Trinity on Sunday.

Katelyn McDougal was the lone Lute field position player to play all 180 minutes over the weekend in the sweltering Texas heat while Abby Winkler made 14 saves in goal, also playing the entirety of the two games. 

Men's Cross Country: Pacific Lutheran opened the season under interim Head Coach Francis Reynolds, finishing third at the Puget Sound Invitational held at Fort Steilacoom Park.

Kai Sorensen headlined the Lutes, finishing fourth overall after covering the 5,000-meter course in 15 minutes. 56.2 seconds. Noah Friedrich was 10th overall in 16:18.1 while Isaiah Bradley was the top newcomer, logging a 17th place showing in 16:57.4. 
 
All told, five Lutes finished inside the top 25. PLU scored 66 points in the team standings, finishing a point shy of Green River College in second place and one point clear of fourth place Everett Community College.
 
Volleyball: The Lutes (1-2) opened the 2025 campaign last weekend at the Puget Sound Premiere where they faced three opponents receiving votes in the AVCA Division III Preseason Top 25 Poll.

PLU opened the tournament last Friday with a 3-1 win over Southwestern University (Texas), getting 16 kills and six blocks from Alexis Eggert. The following day, PLU was tied 1-1 with Gustavus Adolphus College before dropping the final two sets while running into a hot hitting host University of Puget Sound to finish off the day, falling in straight sets.

Eggert, Ayre Takamoto, and Macy Matsushima were all named to the All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of the two-day event. Eggert finished with 28 kills and 13 blocks over the three matches while Takamoto tallied 91 of the squad's 106 assists over the weekend. Matsushima averaged 5.1 digs per set to lead the Lutes over the weekend while also collecting four aces.  

Women's Cross Country: PLU got the season off on the right foot, placing five inside the Top 25 at the Puget Sound Invitational.
 
Maddie Mitchell made her Lute debut in style, leading the pack and finishing 15th overall after navigating the 5K course in 20:49.8. Jessalyn Robles was three spots back in 18th (21:00.6). while Rachel Rosario, Natalie Moran-Padilla, and Mariel Robles finished back-to-back-to-back, in 23rd through 25th place. 

As a team, the Lutes finished third overall, scoring 77 points and enjoying a six-point edge on The Evergreen State College. 

Men's Soccer: The Lutes (0-2) opened the season in Minnesota against a pair of Division III heavyweights in Saint Olaf College and 19th-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College. 

Connor O'Brien tied the game in the 16th minute against the reigning Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Champion Oles but Jack Soares proved to be hard to contain, netting a hat-trick to take the game 4-1.
 
On Sunday, the 19th-ranked Gusties scored twice in a five minute span in what proved to be the only goals of the match. 

Football: The Lutes (7-3, 5-2 NWC in 2024) open the 2025 campaign on Saturday down in southern California against a familiar foe in California Lutheran University. With the exception of the spring COVID-19 season, the Lutes and Kingsmen have met annually every single season since 2004. 

Saturday's game is one of just two games outside the Evergreen State for the Lutes who have six home games and seven in Pierce County this fall.
 
Stay tuned for the season preview coming later this week.   

Download the GoLutes App: Stay connected to your favorite teams by downloading the official mobile app of the Pacific Lutheran University Athletic Department powered by SIDEARM Sports, available in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.

Featuring real-time news alerts, schedules, exclusive multimedia content, gamely details and more, the PLU Athletics app is free and compatible with both iOS and Android devices.

Link to download on Google Play: LINK

Link to download on Apple App Store: LINK

Check Out a New Season of 'Walk with Us'

We're back with Season 2 of Walk with Us!

Host Miles Nash chats with women's rowing coach Matt Oclander about what it takes to join the program as a walk-on.

Last spring, Matt led the Lutes to an 8th place finish at the NCAA Championships!#GoLutes pic.twitter.com/3h0Qz3EPzu

— PLU Athletics (@golutes) September 3, 2025