Tacoma, Wash. - The Wheaton Thunder women's soccer team opened its two-match trip to the Pacific Northwest on Friday night with a match at Pacific Lutheran (3-0-0). The Lutes used a first-half goal to pick up a 1-0 victory against the Thunder. Wheaton (1-1-1) returns to action on Saturday in concluding the trip at Puget Sound.

The Thunder and Lutes played a scoreless battle for the first 20-plus minutes of the match. Pacific Lutheran's Alyssa Leong broke the tie with her second goal of the season in the 27th minute. Leong scored off of an Ashlee Gormley assist. The score coninuted at 1-0 for the remainder of the first half. Wheaton held a 7-6 advantage in shots in the first half.

Wheaton continued to out-shot the Lutes in the second half with a 9-3 edge in shots. PLU goalkeeper Eva Wirth made five saves in the second half.

Wheaton out-shot Pacific Lutheran 16-9 in the match, including a 7-4 advantage for the guests in shots on goal. Wheaton was awarded eight corner kicks and PLU had three. 
Wirth made seven saves in the PLU net. Thunder goalkeeper Lauren Ketchum made three saves and allowed one goal in her 90 minutes of work in the Thunder net.