SPOKANE, Wash.- Whitworth University is back in the NWC tournament for the third time in the last four years. The Pirates earned their way into the post-season by clinching the Northwest Conference title with a 1-0 win at Whitman College last Saturday. Skye Henderson scored the winning goal. Whitworth will face a familiar foe in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday in Gustavus Adolphus College. The Gusties (17-3-1) won the MIAC tournament to earn the berth into the NCAA playoffs. Host University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (15-2-1) will play Wartburg College (15-3-2) in the other first round match up. Click here for a complete tournament bracket.
Saturday, Nov. 10 - Watch it!: Tournament host Wisconsin-Oshkosh will be providing a live video feed of all three matches during the first and second round competition. The cost to access the feed is $8 per game and the feed can be found at the following link: http://secure.stretchinternet.com/demo/games.php?user=uwosh&o=cal_stamp Tournament History: Whitworth is making its fourth appearance in the NCAA Division III men's soccer tournament. In 2001 the Pirates defeated Colorado College (1-0) and Macalester College (advanced 4-2 on penalty kicks) before falling to eventual finalist Univ. of Redlands (1-0). In 2004 Whitworth again defeated Colorado College (2-1) in the first round before losing at St. Norbert College (3-2) in the second round. In 2005 Whitworth earned a first round bye, then defeated Redlands (4-0) in the second round, Wartburg (3-0) in the sectional semifinal and Trinity University (2-1, ot) in the sectional final to advance to the NCAA Division III final four. That run ended with a 2-1 loss to Gustavus Adolphus in the national semifinals. Share and Share Alike: Whitworth's attacking philosophy calls for trust between players and multiple options going forward to score. Therefore, the Pirates have 28 assists to 29 goals scored this season. The 28 assists is second in the NWC. Twelve different players have tallied at least one assist this season, led by Matt Friesen (Sr., F, Newberg, Ore.), Brent Zahn (So., MF, Eagle River, Alaska) and Keith Kirsch (Jr., F, Colbert, Wash.), who each have five. Friesen continues to lead the Pirates offensively. He has seven goals and five assists for a total of 19 points this season.
Skye is Money: Skye Henderson (Sr., MF, Spokane, Wash.), who has started 69 of the 76 matches he has appeared in during his Pirate career, has five goals this season. Four of them have been match winners. In addition to the Whitman winner, he had dramatic winners against Simon Fraser (2-1 in ot) and George Fox (4-3 comeback). He is a two-time Second Team All-NWC selection. The Wall: Whitworth's back line of defense, along with goal keeper Scott Barnum (So., Fall City, Wash.), have posted a 0.59 goals against average this season. Barnum, who has 10 shutouts to his credit this season, has been named Northwest Conference Defensive Player of the Week four times this fall. Seniors Ben Dixon (Missoula, Mont.) and Brett Kagawa (Mililani, Hawaii), along with junior Ben Rotert (Bozeman, Mont.) have been the anchors in back.
NWC Team of the Decade?: With the win at Whitman, the Pirates will have claimed their third NWC Championship in the last four years and fourth since 2001. UPS has won twice and Linfield once over the same time period. Tough Schedule: Whitworth has prepared for the post season by playing a demanding schedule. Nine of the 11 different teams (Whitworth plays NWC teams twice) on the Bucs' schedule have winning records. The non-conference schedule was made up of games against #1-ranked Trinity (18-0, lost 2-1), Southwestern (12-6-2, tied 0-0), Cal Lutheran (15-5, won 1-0) and Simon Fraser (15-1-1, #7 in NAIA, won 2-1). The cumulative won-loss record of the Bucs' non-conference opponents is 60-12-3 this season. Coming Up: GAC tied for the regular season title in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics Conference with Carleton College then defeated St. Olaf College 2-0 in the conference tournament championship. Mike Butterworth leads the Gusties in scoring this season with 14 goals and three assists. Gustavus is making its third straight trip to the NCAA tournament. Wisconsin-Oshkosh finished the regular season 15-2-1 and earned one of the Pool B (independent) bids to the tournament because the Titans' conference does not sponsor men's soccer. Oshkosh is led by Brandon Briones, who has 11 goals and two assists this season. Whitworth and Oshkosh have never met in men' soccer. Wartburg (15-3-2) was the runner up in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and was awarded one of the tournament's pool C slots reserved for at-large selections. The Knights are led in scoring by Luke McClyman's 12 goals and six assists. Whitworth and Wartburg met in the 2005 tournament with the Pirates earning a 3-0 victory in a sectional semifinal. The Coach: The winningest and longest-serving coach in Whitworth soccer history, Sean Bushey is 141-68-22 in his 12th season as head coach at Whitworth (he is 151-74-24 in his 13th season overall as a head coach.) Bushey is a two-time winner of the NWC Coach of the Year award (2001, 2004) and has led his team to conference titles in 2001, 2004 and 2005. In 2005 Whitworth advanced to the NCAA Division III final four. Since the start of the 1999 season, the Whitworth men are 119-41-16. Go to Athletics Home Page > Men's Soccer > Sports Releases > |
NCAA Schedule:
