SPOKANE, Wash.- Whitworth University men's soccer will host Cal State East Bay, Gustavus Adolphus and Pacific Lutheran in the Northern Capital Management Classic to open the 2008 season this weekend. Whitworth and CSEB will play on Friday afternoon, then the Pirates will play GAC on Sunday morning. The weekend matches kick off the Pirates' attempt to claim a second straight Northwest Conference championship and fourth title in the last five years. But Whitworth will have to run the gauntlet of arguably the toughest schedule in all of NCAA Division III.
New Faces: Whitworth will have eight new starters taking the pitch in 2008. But that is not new for head coach Sean Bushey, who was able to claim the 2007 NWC championship with six new starters in the line up. The one constant that should remain for the Bucs is strong defense, where three starters return. The Montana Mountain: Bryan Olson (Jr., D, Missoula, Mont.), who has led the Pirates in minutes played each of his first two seasons, joins with Travis Jette (Sr., D, Missoula, Mont.) and Ben Rotert (Sr., D, Bozeman, Mont.) to form Whitworth's defensive line. All three started last season and helped the Pirates post a 0.67 goals against average and lead the NWC in shots-on-goal allowed. All three were All-NWC Honorable Mention selections last season. Powerhouse Schedule: Whitworth will be taking on five non-conference opponents that posted a cumulative record of 70-23-4 in 2007. Three of them (Gustavus Adolphus, UC Santa Cruz and Wisconsin-Whitewater) were participants in the NCAA Division III tournament last season. Whitworth will then take on the always-difficult double-round-robin Northwest Conference schedule. PLU and UPS will pose strong challenges to Whitworth's reign, along with up-and-coming Whitman and Pacific. The Coach: The fall of 2008 marks Sean Bushey's 13th season as the head men's soccer coach at Whitworth. No coach has ever served longer in that capacity at Whitworth. Bushey, who has his USSF "A" license, has a 142-69-22 record after 12 seasons as the Bucs' head men's soccer coach (152-75-24 in 13 years overall). He has led the Pirates to three Northwest Conference titles in the last four years, and four titles overall. Last season (2007) Whitworth won an NWC title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament. In 2005 he led Whitworth to the NCAA Division III Final Four after the Pirates won their second straight NWC championship. It was the first time a men's soccer team had repeated as Northwest Conference champions in more than ten years. In 2004 he led Whitworth to its second NWC title in his tenure and to the second round of the NCAA tournament, while in 2001 he led the Pirates to a conference championship and the NCAA Regional Finals. He has been named Northwest Conference Men's Coach of the Year three times. Over the last nine years, the Whitworth men are 120-41-16 (.723). Live Stats Offered: Live statistics of all four matches this weekend will be available on the Whitworth University Men's Soccer web page. The link for the matches is: The Participants: Defending Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics Conference champion Gustavus Adolphus is coming off of a 16-4-1 season and fifth consecutive NCAA Division III tournament appearance in 2007. Like Whitworth, the Gusties are replacing several starters in 2008. Senior defenders Flynn Stewart-Franzen and Todd Johnson are the team co-captains, while junior forward Bret Vander Streek was last season's second leading scorer on the team with seven goals and four assists. Whitworth and Gustavus have played twice before, both times in the NCAA Division III tournament. In 2005 the Gusties defeated the Pirates 2-1 in the NCAA Division III national semifinals. Last fall Whitworth upset GAC 2-1 in overtime in the first round of the tournament. Cal State East Bay returns a veteran group from last season, when the Pioneers finished 9-6-1 overall. This season CSEB hopes to earn one of the NCAA Pool B tournament berths reserved for independents. Senior goalkeeper Kristopher Hall, who posted five shutouts last season, returns to lead the defense. Mohammed Airuwayshid, the Pioneers' leading scorer with nine goals and one assist in 2007, returns for his senior year. The last time Whitworth played Cal State East Bay was September 3, 2001, when the Bucs won 3-0 in Hayward, California. Fellow Northwest Conference member Pacific Lutheran hopes to challenge for the conference title this season after finishing second in the NWC in 2007. The Lutes and Pirates will not play each other this weekend, but will each play the visitors from out of state. Junior defender Derek MacLean and sophomore goalkeeper Dan Mangum, both Second Team All-NWC honorees last season, return to anchor what will be a very strong defense. The Northern Capital Management Classic Schedule: Friday (Aug. 29) - Sunday (Aug. 31) - Go to Athletics Home Page > Men's Soccer > Sports Releases > |
