Setting the Scene: It's a weekend of openers and finales as crossover season continues for the Pacific Lutheran University Athletic Department. Men's and women's basketball tip off the season on Friday with a weekend of home games while football celebrates its senior class on Saturday in the home finale against Lewis & Clark College. Men's and women's soccer and volleyball are ball on the road to close out the regular season with the men's and women's swimming teams competing on the road in the second week of Northwest Conference dual meets.

FRIDAY:
WBB hosts Warner Pacific inside Olson Gymnasium (5:30 p.m.)
SWIM at Willamette in Salem, Ore. (7 p.m.)
VB at Whitman in Walla Walla, Wash. (7 p.m.)
MBB hosts Azusa Pacific inside Olson Gymnasium (7:30 p.m.)
SATURDAY:
MSOC at Whitworth in Spokane, Wash. (11 a.m.)
FB hosts Lewis & Clark at Sparks Stadium (1 p.m.)
WSOC at Whitworth in Spokane, Wash. (1:45 p.m.)
VB at Whitworth in Spokane, Wash. (6 p.m.)
MBB hosts Augsburg inside Olson Gymnasium (7 p.m.)
SUNDAY:
MSOC at Whitman in Walla Walla, Wash. (11 a.m.)
WBB hosts Howard Payne inside Olson Gymnasium (1 p.m.)
WSOC at Whitman in Walla Walla, Wash. (1:45 p.m.)

Get with the Flo: Last 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
 
WINtober: The Lutes have been red-hot in the month of October with fall team sports combining for a 21-8-4 (.697) record during the month. That autumnal success isn't limited to just 2026. Last October, Lute teams boasted a 22-3-4 (.828) record during the month and over the last four Octobers, PLU has an 92-16-12 record. 
 
Women's Cross Country: The Lutes had their best finish since 2022 at the Northwest Conference Championships on Saturday, placing sixth on a day filled with personal bests.

Six Lutes ran a personal best at the Oak Knoll Golf Course in Independence, Oregon with Ellie Norris leading the way, placing 24th overall with a PR time of 23 minutes, 20.0 seconds for the 6,000-meter distance.

Jessalyn Robles was next for the Lutes in a PR effort of 23:51.0 while younger sister Mariel Robles also hit a personal best in 24:08. 
 
The Lutes scored 170 points in the team standings, finishing one point shy of Pacific University for fifth place. It was PLU's best team finish since securing fourth place at the 2022 NWC Championships.

The team will rest up this weekend before racing at the 2026 NCAA Division III West Region Championships on Nov. 14 in Spokane, Washington. 

Men's Soccer: Pacific Lutheran (11-2-5, 9-1-4 NWC) remains in the hunt for the NWC title heading into the final weekend of the regular season. The Lutes sit one point behind conference leading Whitman College, a squad PLU will face on Sunday in the regular season finale. 

The Lutes hit the road riding a six-match unbeaten run (3-0-3). PLU tied Linfield University 2-2 on Saturday, the squad's third consecutive stalemate before returning to the win column on Sunday with a 1-0 senior day triumph over Lewis & Clark College.

Misha Turchaninov and Connor O'Brien scored in the tie with the Wildcats while Ty Brunner headlined Sunday, scoring the game's lone goal in the 22nd minute. 

Milestone Watch: Head Coach John Yorke sits just one win shy of 300 for his coaching career. A Lute alum, Yorke has been at the helm for the Lutes since the 2002 campaign and has guided the team to seven conference titles and seven NCAA Division III Tournament appearances. 

Women's Soccer: Pacific Lutheran (11-3-4, 9-2-3 NWC) hits the road owning a three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1). The Lutes took down Linfield 2-0 on Saturday, getting two goals from Liv Olson, including the game-winner in the eighth minute. Tia Schwetz put PLU up 1-0 in the 58th minute against the River Otters on Sunday but the visitor's equalized in the 78th minute for the draw. 
 
With two games left in the regular season, the Lutes will jockey with Whitman for possession of second place in the league standings. 
 
Women's Swimming: The Lutes (1-1) opened the dual meet slate against two of the toughest teams in the NWC, earning a 106-67 home win over Whitman on Friday before falling 146-67 to reigning NWC Champion Whitworth University.

Keira McDowell made noise in her Lute debut, winning five events over the weekend. The first year was on the winning 400-yard medley relay team (4:16.41) on Friday while also collecting individual wins in the 200-yard individual medley (2:19.24) and 100-yard freestyle (57.13). On Saturday, McDowell earned individual victories in the 200-yard freestyle (2:05.24) and 100-yard backstroke (1:03.00). 
 
Men's Swimming: PLU dropped both of its dual meets against the Whits, coming up short 92-87 on Friday against Whitman and 162-55 against Whitworth the following day.

The Lutes won six of the 10 events on Friday night but depth pushed the scales towards the Blues who scratched out the five-point victory. PLU won both relays against Whitman with Vyron Domingo finishing the night with event wins in the 200-yard individual medley (2:00.04), 200-yard backstroke (1:59.88), and as a member of the 400-yard medley relay (3:35.05). 

Domingo won his fourth event of the weekend on Saturday, winning the 100-yard butterfly in 51.86 in the dual against the defending NWC Champion Pirates. 

Volleyball: It was a mixed bag for the Lutes 918-5, 11-3 NWC) in their final homestand of the season. Pacific Lutheran swept Lewis & Clark 3-0 on Friday night but was unable to replicate that success on senior night, falling 3-1 to Linfield on Halloween. 

Heading into the final weekend of the season, the Lutes have already clinched a spot in the four-team NWC Tournament but still have a shot at sharing a regular season title and will be jockeying for seeding with crosstown rival University of Puget Sound and Whitworth University.

The Lutes currently sit one game back of second place Puget Sound and two games behind Whitworth. 

Football: Darius Sum racked up 130 yards on the ground, averaging 10.8 yards per touch but it wasn't enough as visiting Whitworth rallied to the 33-24 victory at Sparks Stadium.
 
The Lutes led 24-23 leading into the fourth quarter but the Pirates took the lead on a 47-yard field goal and added a late touchdown to cement the win. 

PLU outgained Whitworth 403 to 322 but wasn't as sharp on special teams as the Pirates used a short field to score twice while booting four field goals on the day. 

Women's Rowing: The Lutes opened their fall slate on Sunday at the University of Washington's Head of the Lake.

PLU's varsity four boat finished fifth overall at the Jan Harville Cup, navigating the three-mile course in 22:49.553, beating out crews from NWC rival Pacific University and the B Crew from Division II Seattle Pacific University.
 
Pacific Lutheran takes this weekend off before closing out the fall portion of the schedule on American Lake at the PLU Fall Fixture. 

Men's Cross Country: Two personal bests and one season best highlighted Saturday's NWC Championships for the Lutes at Oak Knoll Golf Course.

Noah Friedrich was the first Lute finisher, placing 50th overall after covering the 8,000-meter course in 26:38.3 with Justin Garrett close behind in 59th in a PR of 27:02.9.
 
The Lutes finished ninth in the team standings, accumulating 262 points. 
 
Men's Basketball: The Lutes were picked fifth in the NWC Preseason Coaches' Poll this week and open the season on Friday at home against Azusa Pacific University.
 
Learn more about the 2026-2027 Lutes in our season preview: LINK

Women's Basketball: Pacific Lutheran opens the year tomorrow at home, beginning the Head Coach tenure of Aly Lacey.
 
The Lutes were picked to finish eighth this year in the annual NWC Preseason Coaches' Poll. Learn more about the squad in our season preview: LINK

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