SPOKANE, Wash.- It is an important weekend in Northwest Conference men's soccer as the top four teams in the league, according to standings points, face each other in Tacoma, Washington. Whitworth University (4-0 NWC, 12 points) and Whitman College (3-1, 9 points) head west to play Pacific Lutheran University (2-0, 6 points) and University of Puget Sound (2-0, 6 points). The Pirates (6-1-1 overall) are coming off of a successful trip to Oregon that saw shutout victories over Willamette (3-0) and George Fox (2-0).

Scott Barnum

NWC Player of the Week: The success of last weekend was demonstrated in this week's NWC Player of the Week awards. Keith Kirsch (Jr., F, Colbert, Wash.) is the Offensive Player of the Week after he scored a goal in the win at Willamette and added an assist in the win at George Fox.

Scott Barnum (So., GK, Fall City, Wash.) is the NWC Defensive Player of the Week after he made five saves and posted the Pirates' fifth and sixth shutouts of the season. The wins are Whitworth's fourth and fifth in a row by shutout.

Share and Share Alike: Whitworth's attacking philosophy calls for trust between players and multiple options going forward to score. Therefore, the Pirates have 18 assists to 14 goals scored this season. The 18 assists is second in the NWC. Ten different players have tallied at least one assist this season, led by Brent Zahn (So., MF, Eagle River, Alaska), who has four.

Regionally Ranked: Whitworth is still ranked highly in both NCAA Division III regional polls. The Pirates are 3rd in this week's NSCAA/adidas West Region poll, and are 4th in the D3kicks.com west region rankings that use the same strength of schedule math algorithm used by the NCAA.

Whitworth is also listed among "others receiving votes" in the national polls released by both D3kicks.com and the NSCAA.

Coming Up: After a rough start, Pacific Lutheran has found its game. The Lutes (4-4 overall, 2-0 NWC) have won four straight matches, including a 1-0 win at Pacific and a 5-0 thrashing of St. Martin's last week. Picked just behind defending champion Puget Sound in this year's NWC preseason poll, the Lutes have always provided a tough opponent for the Pirates. Last season Whitworth defeated PLU 2-0 at home but lost 1-0 in Tacoma.

Puget Sound is on its way to another outstanding season. The Loggers, ranked 7th in this week's D3kicks.com poll, are 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the NWC. UPS picked up an important win last week, defeating Linfield 1-0 on the road by scoring in the final ten minutes of the game. Last season Whitworth tied the eventual NWC champions 0-0 at home before losing 2-0 on the road.

The Coach: Sean Bushey is 133-66-22 in his 12th season as head coach at Whitworth (he is 143-72-24 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 109-38-16.