SPOKANE, Wash. – The Luther women's soccer team opened their trip out west with at 0-0 draw against the Whitworth Pirates in the first ever meeting between the two teams.
 
DEADLOCKED
In the first half the two teams were even up on paper. The Pirates had the first opening chance earning a corner kick in the 22^nd minute but the shot went wide. The Norse were off and running moving up the filed quickly with Emma Lin (Des Moines, Iowa / Roosevelt) taking a shot but missed.
 
Ken Vavrichek (Bloomington, Minn. / The Blake School) picked up his first save of the season stopping a low shot to the bottom right of the goal in the 31^st minute. Then with the clock expiring Ava Stemler (West Des Moines, Iowa / Valley) dodged the defenders and nearly found the back of the net. But it was still all knotted up at zero.
 
Coming out of the break Whitworth found their footing firing off six shots in the half compared to one that Luther had. However, nonetheless the Norse were able to hang on to tie the game at 0-0 by the time the final whistle blew. Irelyn Baumberger (Evansville, Wis. / Evansville) made two saves in her first 45 minutes of the season.
 
TOP NORSE

• Goalkeepers Ken Vavrichek (Bloomington, Minn. / The Blake School) and Irelyn Baumberger (Evansville, Wis. / Evansville) both picked up two saves keeping the Pirates off the scoreboard.

 
UP NEXT
The Norse continue their trip in Washington state facing off with Whitman College on Saturday, September 2^nd. Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. CT.