On a sizzling hot Sunday afternoon in Seattle, the Trinity Western University women's soccer team opened its 2010 preseason with a hard fought 2-1 loss to the NCAA Div. I Seattle University Redhawks.

"It was a great effort by a lot of our players, and an overall good performance for us in the perfect preseason match-up, which gave us the opportunity to get some young players their first taste of university soccer," TWU head coach Graham Roxburgh said.

The Redhawks used a one-minute span of attacking proficiency early in the second half to break open a scoreless match and build a comfortable 2-0 lead.

The two markers from Seattle came from senior midfielder Kara Kuttler in the 63rd minute, and rookie midfielder Mary Hill in the 64th minute.

The Spartans made the final 10 minutes interesting when they scored their lone goal of the match in the 79th minute on a penalty kick by second-year midfielder Natalie Boyd.

The "PK" came after Boyd sent second-year midfielder Rachel Antoniuk into the box on a through ball, before she was brought down by the Seattle defender.

"We had a little bit of a break-down in our midfield on their first goal and on the second we failed to get the ball out of our end," Roxburgh said. "It looked like we were in a little bit of trouble but we were able to steady the ship and finish strong."

The visitors from Langley almost tied the match in the 87th minute when rookie midfielder Jessica King sent second-year forward Alicia Tesan in alone on the Redhawks' net.

However, Seattle's junior 'keeper Madison Goverde was up to the task as she made a fine save to keep the Spartans from earning a draw.

Trinity Western's Veronika Rogina was solid in net for the Spartans.

The fifth year 'keeper made nine saves in the loss as the Redhawks outshot the Spartans 20-6 overall.

Seattle's Goverde made one save in the win.

Extra time: Seattle held a 12-1 edge in corner kicks.

The match was scoreless through the first 45 minutes with the Redhawks holding a 5-4 edge in shots.

Temperatures hit a high of 36ºC during the match.

The Spartans hosted the Western Washington University Vikings at TWU's Spartan Field on Monday.

Results were not available at press time.