NEWBERG, Ore. -- (From Blair Cash, GFU SID) Greta Thibodeau scored the first goal of the game and assisted on the second, both in the first half, leading the Whitworth College Pirates a 2-0 victory over the George Fox University Bruins in a Northwest Conference women’s soccer game on a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon here at Morse Field.

Thibodeau scored a goal and assisted on one

Whitworth took offensive control early, getting off eight shots before the Bruins got their first try at the goal. The Pirates finally broke through at 17:44 when Penelope Crowe hooked an indirect free kick off the right post, and the ball ricocheted into the middle of the keeper’s box, where Thibodeau had an easy putback for her sixth goal of the season. The Pirates added an insurance goal at 32:59 when Thibodeau drove the right baseline and passed to Jael Hagerott coming in to the left side of the goal, and she sent the ball into the right corner of the net for her fifth score of the year.

Whitworth took 14 shots in the first half to three for George Fox, but the second half was mainly a defensive joust, with the Pirates taking five shots and the Bruins four. Whitworth keeper Leah Motz had three saves in recording the shutout, while George Fox goalie Jessica Cardwell made 11 saves.

George Fox, enduring its fourth straight loss and third straight shutout, is now 4-9-1 overall and 2-7-1 in the conference. Whitworth, locked in a four-team dogfight with Willamette University, the University of Puget Sound, and Pacific Lutheran University for the NWC title, improved to 9-2-2 overall and 7-2-1 in league play. George Fox next hosts Lewis & Clark College and Whitworth hosts Pacific University Saturday in conference matches at 12 noon.