SPOKANE, Wash.- The first round of the Northwest Conference men's soccer schedule is over and Whitworth is just about where it hoped it would be, at the top of the standings. The 22nd-ranked Pirates (9-2-1 overall, 5-2 NWC) have 15 points and lead second place Whitman (6-1-6, 4-1-2) by a single point. Pacific Lutheran is only one point behind the Missionaries, so there is little room for error as the Pirates begin the second round of the conference schedule. Click here for the NWC standings.

Whitworth, coming off of a 3-1 loss at Pacific last Saturday and a 3-1 win at George Fox last Sunday, will return home to host Willamette (Saturday, 2:30 p.m.) and Linfield (Sunday, 2:30 p.m.) this weekend.

John Prugh

Goal Scorer: Whitworth's Caleb Barnhill (Sr., F, Sultan, Wash.) currently leads the Northwest Conference in goals per game (0.67) and in total goals (8). Barnhill has two game-winning goals this season - the only tally in a 1-0 win at Linfield and a late score in a 3-2 win over Pacific Lutheran on September 28th.

Prugh, too: Team captain John Prugh (Sr., F, Bozeman, Mont.) is also among the NWC scoring leaders. Prugh, who has five goals and four assists this season, is tied with teammate Travis Jette (Sr., D, Missoula, Mont.) for the conference lead in assists (4) and is fourth in total goals.

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 and Ben Rotert (Sr., D, Bozeman, Mont.) to form the bulk of Whitworth's defensive line. The trio has limited opponents to 50 shots on goal (4.2 per match) this season.

Powerhouse Schedule: Whitworth took 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, while Cal Lutheran was co-champion of the SCIAC.

National Rankings: Whitworth hangs in the top 25 this week at 22nd in the NSCAA/adidas Division III coaches poll, despite the loss last Saturday. The Bucs are currently ranked third in the west region. Click here for the latest NSCAA national DIII poll. The latest NSCAA West Region rankings are here.

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-plus years (including this season), the Whitworth men are 129-43-17 (.728).

Live Stats Offered: Live statistics of all Pirate home matches this season will be available on the Whitworth University Men's Soccer web page. The link for the matches is:
http://www.whitworth.edu/Athletics/Teams/Soccer/livestats/xlive.htm

The Opponents: Willamette comes into the weekend with an overall record of 2-8-1 and an NWC mark of 1-5-1. The Bearcats lost 2-0 at Linfield last Wednesday and 1-0 at home to Puget sound on Saturday. Erik Kaufman leads Willamette with five goals this season. On September 21st Whitworth won 2-0 at Willamette on goals by both John and Eddy (Fr., F, Bozeman, Mont.) Prugh.

Linfield College is 6-6 overall and 2-5 in the NWC heading into this week. The Wildcats followed their 2-0 win over Willamette with a 2-0 loss at home to Pacific Lutheran on Sunday. Kurtis Wong has five goals and three assists, while Kyle Wallace has six goals for the Wildcats. On September 20th Whitworth won 1-0 at Linfield when Caleb Barnhill scored the only goal of the match.