Graddy and Lutes: 'We haven't skipped a beat'

Machaela Graddy doesn’t mince words about what she and her Pacific Lutheran University teammates hope to accomplish in their 2017 women’s soccer season.

"We are returning all of our offensive players, which means we just get to hit the ground running from where we left off" in 2016, said Graddy, a senior forward from Eatonville. "It feels like we haven't skipped a beat."

If that means a repeat or better of last season for the Lutes, that’s trouble for their opponents. A year ago, PLU won its first Northwest Conference championship since 1992 and for the first time in the school’s history had an undefeated regular season and advanced to the NCAA Division III tournament.

In the Northwest’s pre-season coaches poll, PLU was selected to repeat as conference champions in 2017, seconding the high expectations of Graddy and company.

Graddy’s teammates include fellow Eatonville High School alum Amber Richards, a junior midfielder and forward. Both of them hauled in individual honors last season.  Graddy was named the Northwest Conference Offensive Player of the Year after leading the conference in goals (13) and points (34) and finishing second in assists (eight). Richards earned a conference Scholar-Athlete award.

Graddy said PLU’s experienced and potent offense is a “speed-driven, crafty system that is hard for defenses to stop.”

She said she and her teammates, who traveled across the country to make their season debut over the Labor Day weekend with matches in Pennsylvania against Franklin and Marshall Sept. 1 and Messiah on Sept. 2, are intent on forming a foundation for future Lutes.

Coach Seth Spidahl “always tells us we're stewards of the program and we must continue to make PLU a great program. "It's not about us, but the program, and if we don't help the new players then we aren't helping the future of the program."