There's an old saying in sports: "defense wins championships." On Saturday the Point Loma Nazarene University women's soccer team proved it still applies today.
The Sea Lions beat Washburn University 1-0 to win the school's first national title in any sport. PLNU played five games in the NCAA Tournament. They did not allow a single goal in ANY of them. With a defensive performance like that it's only fitting that a defensive specialist scored the championship-winning goal.
In the 53rd minute Grace Nelson sent a corner kick to the back post and Emma Thrapp, the PacWest Conference Defensive Player of the Year, headed it home for the only goal (and trademark cartwheel celebration) of the game.
Sea Lions goalie Julia Pinnell made it stand up with three saves to finish one of the most dominant performances in NCAA Tournament history. PLNU's netminder has a shutout streak that, going back to the regular season, has stretched to an absurd 915 minutes, 35 seconds. What's truly remarkable is this Sea Lions roster doesn't have a single senior on it, so odds are the entire group will be back again next year.
If that's the case there's a very good chance this first national championship will turn into their first back-to-back national championships.
