SPOKANE, Wash. - Whitworth University will travel to Tacoma, Washington for what has typically been the Pirates' toughest road trip on the schedule. Whitworth will play at Pacific Lutheran University on Saturday and University of Puget Sound on Sunday in a pair of important Northwest Conference matches. The Bucs came back from last weekend's trip to Oregon with wins over Willamette University (2-1) and George Fox University (3-2).

Thibodeau leads the NWC in Assists per Match

Rising in the Rankings: Whitworth continues its steady rise in the national rankings thanks to a perfect 7-0 start, the best in school history. Whitworth is ranked 10th in this week's D3kicks.com poll, up three spots from last week. The Pirates are also rated #2 in the west on D3kicks.com, and that rating is based on the same computer algorithms the NCAA uses to calculate Strength of Schedule rankings.

Whitworth moved up 14 spots in this week's NSCAA/adidas Division III poll to #8. Whitworth also moved up to 1st 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 27 goals and 27 assists in seven matches this year, and the 3.86 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 8 in the seven matches. Her average of 1.14 assists per game not only ranks first in the NWC, it also is fourth at the NCAA Division III level.

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 will miss at least another weekend. Rohde has six goals this season, which is still the second highest total in the NWC to this point, despite the fact that she has only played four matches.

Coming Up Next: Pacific Lutheran is 2-5-1 overall and 1-3 in the NWC this season, but the Lutes have always provided one of the toughest road challenges for Whitworth every season. Last weekend PLU lost 3-0 at home to Puget Sound and 2-1 on the road at Pacific. In 2006 the Pirates defeated the Lutes 2-1 at home, but lost 2-0 in Tacoma.

Puget Sound is having another outstanding year in women's soccer. The Loggers, winners of the last five NWC titles, are off to an 8-0 start (4-0 in the NWC) and are ranked fifth in this week's D3kicks.com poll. After last week's 3-0 win at PLU, the Loggers went on the road to crush Linfield 5-0. On their way to last season's conference title, UPS tied Whitworth 0-0 in Spokane and won 3-0 in Tacoma.

Head Coach: Sean Bushey is 97-82-15 in his 11th year leading the Whitworth women. During that time he has also served as the Pirate men's coach.