NAMPA, Id. (Oct. 13) –­Shannon Lovejoy collected a hat trick as unbeaten and top-ranked Seattle Pacific University posted a costly 8-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference women¹s soccer victory over Northwest Nazarene Wednesday afternoon in Nampa.

The Falcons (5-0-1 GNAC, 13-0-1) won their seventh straight match but lost one of their top scorers, forward Sarah Martinez (Fr., Bothell, Wa./Cedar Park Christian), to a knee injury in the first nine minutes.

Martinez dribbled through the Crusaders¹ defense to score her sixth goal in the last seven games for a 2-0 lead at 6:59. She was brought down on a tackle less than two minutes later. No foul was called and Lovejoy converted a header for her first goal at 8:44 as play continued.

Michelle Sanders (Sr., Centralia, Wa.) had opened the scoring in the fourth minute and her second goal made it 4-1 in the 24th. Sanders has eight goals on the season, tying her with Martinez for the team lead. Allie Teague (Jr., Redmond, Wa./Bellevue Christian) came off the bench for her first two strikes of the season.

Lovejoy (Jr., Seattle, Wa./Seattle Prep) hit her last two goals early in the second half, the second on a penalty kick. It was her second career hat trick and the fifth in team history. She has seven goals and a team-high 20 points.

Seattle Pacific scored three times in the opening nine minutes and tallied five total, in the first half. It was the second-highest goal tally in the program¹s four-year existence. Megan Lienhard (Jr., Everett, Wa./Cascade) and Jean Kolb (Jr., Eugene, Or.) each had two assists.

Goalkeeper Jennifer Hull (Sr., Eugene, Or.) saved a penalty kick in the 13th minute but Northwest Nazarene¹s Jamie Kellett converted another three minutes later. The Crusaders (2-5-0, 5-8-0) snapped a string of six shutouts and 607 minutes by the SPU defense.

The Falcons, already playing without injured forward Heidi Jacobson, finished with a 25-9 advantage in shots, forcing nine saves by NNU keeper Amanda Merrell.

Seattle Pacific resumes play Saturday night in a GNAC contest at Western Washington. Kick-off is scheduled for 5:30.

Scoring—1, SPU, Sanders (Lienhard, Kolb) 3:25; 2, SPU, Martinez (unassisted) 6:59; 3, SPU, Lovejoy (Henson) 8:44; 4, NNU, Kellett (penalty kick) 15:05; 5, SPU, Sanders (Hamby) 23:06; 6, SPU, Teague (Kolb) 28:05; 7, SPU, Lovejoy (Lienhard) 48:12; 8, SPU, SPU Lovejoy (penalty kick) 58:25; 9, SPU, Teague (unassisted) 65:27.

Shots—SPU 25, NNU 9.

Saves—SPU (Hull 2/Pierce 1) 3, NNU (Merrell) 9.

Corner kicks—SPU 5, NNU 4.

Fouls—SPU 6, NNU 6.

Offside—SPU 1, NNU 1.

Cautions—none.