SPOKANE, Wash. - After playing six of the last eight matches on the road, the Whitworth University women's soccer team gets to enjoy the next four contests at home in Spokane, beginning this coming weekend with a Saturday match against George Fox University and a Sunday match up against Willamette University. Both games are scheduled to start at noon.

At the halfway point in the NWC schedule, the Pirates (12-1 overall, 9-1 NWC) trail Puget Sound (14-0, 10-0) by a game (three points) in the conference standings. George Fox (9-4-1, 6-3-1) is currently in third place and will try to close some of the distance between themselves and Whitworth this weekend.

Last weekend Whitworth earned a pair of important road victories, edging Linfield College 2-1 and Pacific University 1-0. Jael Hagerott (Sr., MF, Spokane, Wash.) had a goal and an assist over the weekend to lead the Pirates.

Thibodeau leads the NWC in Assists per Match

Pirates in the Rankings: Whitworth continues to be rated highly, both nationally and regionally. The Pirates are ranked 12th in the D3kicks.com top 25 poll and 15th in the NSCAA/adidas top 25 poll. Regionally, Whitworth is ranked 2nd in both the D3kicks West Region rankings and the NSCAA West Region poll.

Leading the League : Whitworth's offensive efficiency has the Pirates atop the Northwest Conference statistics in both goals and assists. Whitworth has 39 goals and 36 assists in 13 matches this year, and the 3.00 goals and 2.8 assists per game average for both categories tops the NWC.

In addition, Greta Thibodeau (Sr., F, Juneau, Alaska) leads the conference in assists as an individual with 9 in the 13 matches.

Rohde Returns: Whitworth's leading scorer, Emily Rohde (Fr., F, Lake Oswego, Ore.) suffered a sprained ankle in a 2-0 win over Pacific on Sept. 14 and only returned to action last weekend at Linfield and Pacific. She came off of the bench in both games. Rohde has six goals this season, which is still the fifth highest total in the NWC to this point, despite the fact that she has only played six matches.

Coming Up Next: George Fox (9-4-1 overall, 6-3-1 NWC) comes into the match in third place in the conference standings. The Bruins have done quite well for themselves after finishing 6th in the preseason coaches poll. Last weekend George Fox tied 0-0 at Willamette on Thursday before traveling to Pacific Lutheran on Sunday and taking a 3-2 victory. Whitworth won the first meeting of the season between the teams in Newberg, Oregon on September 23rd when Whitney Ramsey's (Jr., F, Spokane, Wash.) goal gave the Pirates a 3-2 win.

Willamette (4-6-2, 3-5-2), long one of the strong powers in the NWC, is in danger of posting its first losing record since 1992. But the Bearcats have played better of late, going 2-1-1 over the last four matches. After tying George Fox last weekend, Willamette suffered its first loss in four games by a slim 3-2 margin at 4th-ranked Puget Sound on Saturday. Earlier this season (Sept. 22nd), Whitworth went to Salem and claimed a 2-1 win on Greta Thibodeau's goal.

Head Coach: Sean Bushey is 102-84-15 in his 11th year leading the Whitworth women. During that time he has also served as the Pirate men's coach.