SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Whitworth University women's soccer team will take a four-match winning streak west to take on Pacific Lutheran (Saturday) and Puget Sound (Sunday) in pair of Northwest Conference matches. Both are scheduled to begin at noon. The 16th-ranked Pirates are 10-3-1 overall and 6-3-1 in the NWC after winning home matches against Willamette (3-2) and Linfield (4-1) last weekend. The Pirates are playing their best soccer since opening the season 5-0.
Spreading the Wealth: The Pirates' four game winning streak has coincided with a blossoming of the offense. Whitworth has scored 13 of its 27 goals in the last four wins. The fact that eight different players have scored at least two goals this season for the Bucs indicates that the team is capable of getting important points from a variety of players. Emily Rohde (So., F, Lake Oswego, Ore.) leads the team in scoring with five goals and two assists. Lindsey Oakes (Jr., MF, Boise, Idaho) is second with four goals and two assists. Stepping into the Breach: Whitworth suffered some bad news before the season even started when returning starting goal keeper Krista Dietz (Jr., Enumclaw, Wash.) went down with a knee injury during preseason practice. But Callie Bergstrom (Fr., GK, Spokane, Wash.) has stepped in and played very well. She has allowed 16 goals in the Pirates' 14 matches this season for a 1.11 goals against average. She has been in on 56 saves. Tough League: The Northwest Conference is once again proving very tough in NCAA Division III soccer. Five NWC schools are currently ranked among the top nine in the NSCAA West Region Ratings. The Pirates are currently ranked second in the west, just behind Puget Sound. Whitman College is sixth, George Fox University is eighth and Willamette University is 9th. Click here for the NSCAA Division III West Region ratings. National Rankings: Whitworth is ranked 16th in this week's NSCAA/adidas Division III women's coaches poll, the same position as last two ratings. Click here for the today's national poll. The Coach: In his 12th season as the Pirate women's head coach, Bushey has a 108-86-15 during his 11 previous seasons leading Whitworth. But over the last five-plus years, including this season, the Whitworth women are 75-29-7 and in 2007 the team finished second in the NWC, earning the first ever NCAA Division III tournament bid as an at-large participant. The Pirates defeated UC Santa Cruz in the first round of the tournament. Bushey was named the 2007 NWC Women's Coach of the Year. Live Stats Offered: Live statistics of all Pirate home matches this season will be available on the Whitworth University Women's Soccer web page. The link for the matches is: The Opponents: Pacific Lutheran heads into the week with an overall record of 2-8-3 and a conference mark of 1-7-2. After losing 8-0 at home to Puget Sound last Wednesday, PLU earned its first NWC win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Pacific on Sunday. Laura Bressler leads the Lutes with four goals. PLU surprised Whitworth with a 1-1 tie in Spokane on September 28th. Sixth-ranked Puget Sound (12-1 overall, 9-0 NWC) is well on its way to a seventh straight NWC title. The Loggers followed their 8-0 whitewash at PLU with a 4-0 trouncing of George Fox last Saturday. Junior forward Janece Levien has 17 goals this season, more than the entire season total of half the teams in the NWC. On September 27th UPS defeated Whitworth 3-1 in Spokane. |
