TACOMA, Wash. — Emily Mejia came off the bench and tallied two goals in the fourth quarter as the Pacific Lutheran University women's lacrosse team closed out its non-conference slate with a 7-5 victory over Lawrence University (Wis.) at East Field.

Monday's game was a defensive slugfest with PLU limiting the visiting Vikings to just two goals through the opening three quarters and setting a school record for fewest goals allowed in a game with five.

"Something we preach is that 'everyone plays defense.' Our offense had a key role today in the defensive end to get possession back. Kassie was locked from start to finish today and our defense competed as a unit," said Head Coach Melanie Rizzotti.

The visiting Vikings (0-5) struck first, scoring with 7:22 left in the opening quarter in what proved to be the lone goal of the first period.
 
The Lutes (1-5) answered three minutes into the second quarter with Issabella Marchio scoring off a feed from Samantha Velasco Patiño. Marchio would strike again less than four minutes later, scoring off a pass from Paige Hackman to give the Lutes a 2-1 edge that they'd take into the halftime intermission. 

The Vikings tied the game with 7:30 left in the third but Kathleen Swankowski put the host Lutes back on top with 75 seconds left in the period, making it 3-2 off an assist from Taylee Alldredge.
 
Mejia tallied the first goal of the fourth quarter, capitalizing on a Viking green card to score a man-up to make it 4-2 with 11:40 remaining.
 
Lawrence responded with a goal 93 seconds later— one of six goals scored in a wild final 10 minutes of the game. 

Alldredge scored with 7:07 remaining before Mejia scored another man-up goal with 5:46 left. The Vikings closed the gap back to two with 3:19 remaining before another Alldredge goal with 2:27 left put PLU up three. Lawrence scored the game's final goal with 2:07 left as the Lutes salted away the clock to secure the win. 
 
Paige Hackman was dialed in defensively, collecting eight ground balls and causing six turnovers. Gracie Cecka had six ground balls while Velasco Patiño had five caused turnovers.

Kassie Diller made six saves in goal for the Lutes, finishing the game with a .545 save percentage.
 
The Lutes close out their non-conference slate on Wednesday, hosting Kalamazoo College (Mich.) at East Field. Opening draw is set for 1 p.m.