PLU Shocks No.5 Willamette, 1-0

The Bearcats return home for games against Whitworth on Saturday and Whitman on Sunday. Both games begin at noon.

Brittney Beitel and Amanda Tschauner Photos courtesy: PLU

TACOMA, Wash. - Junior forward Brittney Beitel scored the lone goal of the match in the 62nd minute and the defense made it stand up as Pacific Lutheran shocked No. 5-ranked Willamette, 1-0, in a Northwest Conference women’s soccer match played Sunday at the PLU field.

With the win, PLU improves to 8-3-1 for the season and 5-2-1 in the Northwest Conference. The loss was the first for the Bearcats this season and drops their overall record to 10-1-1 and their conference mark to 7-1-0.

Beitel, who was recently moved to forward after playing defense for much of the season, was in the right place at the right time. She stopped a Willamette clearance at about the 30-yard line, took one touch and drove the ball into the upper left corner of the goal, out of the reach of Willamette goalkeeper Kari Woody. The goal, which came at the 61:22 mark, was only the third allowed by the Bearcats in 12 matches this season.

The match was even throughout as the Lutes finished with nine shots to eight for the visiting Bearcats, that after the teams were tied at five shots apiece after the first half.

Early in the second half the Bearcats had a series of three consecutive corner kicks, but the Lute defense and goalkeeper Amanda Tschauner managed to keep the ball out of the net. On the first corner, Tschauner tipped the ball over the crossbar to maintain the shutout.

PLU counterattacked after getting the goal from Beitel and came close to adding another goal on a couple of occasions, including once with about 10 minutes remaining when Beitel’s shot beat Woody but rolled just wide of the left post.

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