SPOKANE, Wash. -- No less than four Northwest Conference women's soccer teams head into the final two weeks of the season with a chance to win the Northwest Conference title. Three of those teams will play each other on the pitch this weekend when Whitworth visits Puget Sound on Saturday and Pacific Lutheran on Sunday.

Greta Thibodeau leads the Pirates in goals and assists in 2006

Both matches will begin at 11:00 am as the NWC adjusts its schedule to accommodate daylight savings time.

Whitworth enters the weekend with an overall record of 11-2-2 and a conference mark of 9-2-1 (28 points). Willamette, which has played one extra game than the other three contenders, leads the NWC with a conference mark of 10-2-1 (31 points). UPS is second (9-1-2, 29 points), followed by Whitworth and PLU (7-3-2, 23 points). The Lutes are the only team of the four that would need help to earn at least a share of the title.

The Pirates won a pair of 2-1 matches against Pacific and Linfield last weekend to put themselves in this position. Greta Thibodeau leads the team with eight goals and five assists for 21 points. Jael Hagerott has added six goals, five of which have been match winners. The Pirates are aiming for their first NWC title since 1995.

UPS actually put itself in the driver's seat of the conference race by virtue of its 2-1 win over Willamette last week. The Loggers are 7-0 at home this season. Whitworth and UPS played to a 1-1 tie on October 1st in Spokane. Last season UPS won 3-0 in Tacoma. Whitworth has not beaten the Loggers since October 2nd, 2004.

Pacific Lutheran fell 2-0 to Puget Sound and tied George Fox 0-0 last season to fall back to fourth place in the standings. The Lutes are 4-0-1 at home this year, including a win over Willamette. Whitworth defeated PLU 2-0 in Spokane on September 30th, coming back from a goal down with tallies in the final ten minutes by Penelope Crowe and Hagerott. PLU edged Whitworth 3-2 in overtime last season in Tacoma.

Whitworth will conclude the season the following week by hosting Lewis & Clark on Thursday and Whitman on Saturday.