TACOMA, Wash. — Elayna Blodgett tallied her first collegiate goal on Thursday evening as the nine-time defending Northwest Conference Champion Pacific Lutheran University women's soccer team blanked Wheaton College (Ill.) 2-0 in the home opener at East Field.
Blodgett drew first blood in the 24th minute, scoring the game-winner in the 24th minute for the homestanding Lutes (2-1). It was Blodgett's first college goal while
Kodie Bagcal was credited with her first career assist.
The scoreline remained 1-0 at the halftime break with PLU owning a 5-2 edge in shots over the visiting Thunder (1-3).
Things opened up for the Lutes in the second half with
Liv Olson collecting her second goal of the season in the 68th minute to make it a two goal game. Olson's initial shot was saved before collecting the rebound and scoring what turned out to be the final goal of the game.
NWC Defensive Player of the Week
Mia Speir made four saves in goal, collecting her second consecutive shutout. PLU has now gone six straight home games without allowing a goal, a streak stretching back to the middle of the 2025 season.
"It was a good win for us today. We were missing a couple of starters so we had to make some game day decisions," said Head Coach
Seth Spidahl.
"Super proud of Kodie for making her first start and playing very well. She stepped in and it was a step forward for us. We had some attacking moments and coached a lot today. We're still in preseason and have to improve on a lot of things. What I told the team is there's no better practice than a game. I felt like we were in control for the most part. Little rough start after 10 or 15 minutes but we found our legs. It was great to see Elayna get her first goal, and Liv scored again, so she's picking up were she left off."
PLU outshot the Thunder 14-8 in the game, including a 12-3 discrepancy over the final 45 minutes.
"Some good performances and we had some good adjustments based on missing a couple of players. We still need to work on our rotations and giving people opportunities. 2-0 is a tough lead to start changing everything because you're one moment away from it being 2-1. Would have loved to have gotten a third goal to get more players opportunities but it just wasn't the case.Â
Thanks to Wheaton, a good hard-working opponent and we look forward to Saturday. Azusa Pacific is a Division II Sweet 16 team from last year and is a very good team and it will be a good opportunity to see how much we've improved since our first game."
The Lutes finish off non-conference play on Saturday, hosting Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) at 1 p.m.Â
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