WINONA LAKE, Ind. – A long, wet night at Miller Field ended in a hard-fought 1-0 defeat for Grace's women's soccer team at the hands of Westminster (Utah).

The game, interrupted by heavy storms, finished in the early hours of Sunday morning. It stretched six hours beyond the originally scheduled kickoff time of 7 p.m. Both Grace and Westminster are appearing in the receiving votes section of the NAIA preseason poll.

After a nearly three-hour delay to start the game, the teams played 34:01 of the first half before more storms halted the match. During the first half Westminster scored the only goal of the game in the 13th minute, intercepting a pass in Grace's backfield to convert a one-on-one opportunity with Grace goalkeeper Abby Schue.

With lightning and storms continuing to plague the area, the match was not deemed safe to resume until 11:45 p.m. The Lady Lancers held a slight 6-4 shot advantage in the first half.

Grace ramped up its offense in pursuit of an equalizer in the second half. The Lady Lancers (4-2-2) crammed the majority of their six second-half shots and three corner kicks in the final 10 minutes and nearly tied the game on several opportunities. Grace thought it had earned a penalty kick when Meredith Hollar was fouled, but the referee judged the foul to be outside the 18-yard line.

Despite strong shots late in the match from Mallory Rondeau, Hollar and Carianne Sobey, the Griffins (8-0-1) kept Grace off the scoreboard for their seventh shutout of the season.

For the game Grace had a 12-9 edge in shots and 5-2 advantage in corner kicks.

The Lady Lancers will shift their focus to the Crossroads League portion of the schedule, beginning with a home match against rival Indiana Wesleyan on Sept. 27 at 7 p.m.