SPOKANE, Wash. - Heading into the final two weekends of the regular season, Whitworth University trails University of Puget Sound by one game (three points) in the Northwest Conference standings. Those two squads are scheduled to meet on the Whitworth Soccer Field on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday the Pirates will host Pacific Lutheran University.

With two weekends left on the schedule the Bucs (14-1 overall, 11-1 NWC) trail the Loggers (16-0, 12-0) by just a game. Hard-charging Whitman College (8-5-3, 7-3-2) has moved into third place in the NWC standings.

Last weekend Whitworth set up the importance of this weekend by beating George Fox 4-1 on Saturday behind two goals from Kaylyn Plumb (Fr., MF, Newman Lake, Wash.) and a record-tying three assists by Penelope Crowe (Jr., F, Bellingham, Wash.). On Sunday Jael Hagerott (Sr., MF, Spokane, Wash.) scored with six minutes left in the match to give the Bucs a 1-0 win over Willamette.

Plumb leads the NWC in match-winning goals

Pirates in the Rankings: Whitworth continues to be rated highly, both nationally and regionally. The Pirates are ranked 14th in the NSCAA/adidas top 25 poll. Regionally, Whitworth is ranked 2nd in the in the official NCAA Division III Region ratings and 2nd in the NSCAA West Region poll. The D3kicks.com ratings are delayed this week.

Leading the League : Whitworth's offensive efficiency has the Pirates atop the Northwest Conference statistics in points per game. Whitworth has 44 goals and 41 assists in 15 matches this year and the 8.6 points per contest average leads the NWC. In addition the season assists totals lead the league as well for overall total and assists per game (2.73).

In addition, Greta Thibodeau (Sr., F, Juneau, Alaska) leads the conference in assists as an individual with 9 in the 15 matches, while Penelope Crowe is second in the NWC with eight assists in 15 matches.

The Whitworth defense has been strong as well. Whitworth's goals against average is 0.74, which is second best in the Northwest Conference to this point. In addition, the Pirates have limited opponents to 44 shots on goal, the lowest number in the NWC.

Making it Count: Whitworth's leading scorer, Kaylyn Plumb, has scored eight goals this season which ranks fourth in the NWC for total goals and goals per match (0.53). However, she has four game winning goals in that season total, which is tops in the league.

Coming Up Next: Five-time Northwest Conference champion University of Puget Sound (16-0 overall, 12-0 NWC) is back in its familiar position leading the league standings late in the season. The fourth-ranked Loggers won impressively last week over Pacific Lutheran (4-0 away on Wednesday) and Linfield (4-0 at home on Saturday). UPS defeated Whitworth 1-0 in closely contested match in Tacoma on September 30th in the teams' first meeting of the season. Last year the Pirates and Loggers tied 1-1 in Spokane. Whitworth's last win over UPS was 2-1 at home in 2004.

Pacific Lutheran University (4-10-2, 3-8-1) has always given Whitworth tough matches, including this season when the Pirates had to go to overtime to pull out a 2-1 win against the Lutes on the road on September 29th. In addition to its loss at home to UPS last Wednesday, PLU defeated visiting Pacific 5-1 on Sunday, posting a season-high goal total.

Head Coach: Sean Bushey is 104-84-15 in his 11th year leading the Whitworth women. During that time he has also served as the Pirate men's coach.