SPOKANE, Wash. - Whitworth University will open the second half of Northwest Conference play on the road this week. The Pirates will take on Linfield College on Saturday and Pacific University on Sunday, both at noon. Whitworth has completed the first half of the NWC season with a 7-1 record (10-1 overall) after last weekend's 2-1 win over Whitman College at home.

At the halfway point in the NWC schedule, the Bucs trail Puget Sound (12-0, 8-0) by a game (three points) in the conference standings. Whitworth and UPS have achieved some separation between themselves and the rest of the NWC. George Fox (8-4, 5-3) is currently in third place.

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 13th in the D3kicks.com top 25 poll and 22nd in the NSCAA/adidas top 25 poll. Regionally, Whitworth is ranked 2nd in the D3kicks West Region rankings and third in 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 36 goals and 33 assists in 11 matches this year, and the 3.27 goals and 3.00 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 11 matches.

Missing Rohde: 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 has missed every match since then. Rohde has six goals this season, which is still the fourth highest total in the NWC to this point, despite the fact that she has only played four matches.

Coming Up Next: Linfield (5-5-1 overall, 4-4 NWC) comes into the weekend having won three of their last four matches. The Wildcats dropped an overtime heartbreaker at home to George Fox last Saturday (3-2), but came back to beat Pacific Lutheran 1-0 in overtime on the road on Sunday. In the teams' first meeting this season on September 16th, Whitworth beat Linfield 5-1 in Spokane.

Pacific is 4-7-1 overall and 2-6 in the NWC heading into the weekend. The Boxers will host Whitman on Saturday before playing Whitworth on Sunday. Last weekend Pacific lost 2-0 at NWC leader Puget Sound and 2-1 at Willamette. Earlier this season the Pirates defeated the Boxers 3-0 in Spokane on September 15th.

Head Coach: Sean Bushey is 100-83-15 in his 11th year leading the Whitworth women. During that time he has also served as the Pirate men's coach.