SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Whitworth University women's soccer team will play a pair of important matches this week in the drive to finish second in the final Northwest Conference standings. The Pirates will travel to Walla Walla on Wednesday for a 4:00 p.m. match at Whitman. On Sunday, November 2nd Whitworth will host Lewis & Clark at 11:00 a.m. Click here for the NWC women's soccer standings. The 15th-ranked Pirates are 11-4-1 overall and 7-4-1 in the NWC after winning 3-2 in overtime at PLU on Saturday and then falling 2-0 at 6th-ranked UPS on Sunday. The loss to the Loggers eliminated Whitworth's chances of winning or sharing an NWC title in 2008.
Spreading the Wealth: Whitworth has scored 16 of its 30 goals in the last six matches. 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) and Liz Mattila (So., F, Ferndale, Wash.) each have four goals and three 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 20 goals in the Pirates' 16 matches this season for a 1.22 goals against average. She has been in on 64 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 ten in the NSCAA West Region Ratings. The Pirates are currently ranked second in the west, just behind Puget Sound. Willamette is sixth, George Fox University is ninth and Whitman is 10th. Click here for the NSCAA Division III West Region ratings. National Rankings: Whitworth is ranked 15th in this week's NSCAA/adidas Division III women's coaches poll, up one position from the last three 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 76-30-7 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: Whitman comes into the week with an overall record of 8-6-1 and a conference mark of 6-5-1. The Missionaries have dropped three straight matches, including a hard-fought 2-1 decision at UPS on Saturday and a disappointing 1-0 overtime loss at PLU on Sunday. Corina Gabbert is second in the NWC with 11 goals this season. On October 1st Whitworth rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to defeat Whitman 2-1 in Spokane. Lewis & Clark (4-8-4 overall, 3-8-1 NWC) and Whitworth have gone in different directions since the Pioneers handed the Pirates a painful 1-0 overtime loss in Portland on October 4th. While the Pirates are 5-1 in their six matches since, L&C has gone 1-5-1 since, including a pair of home losses over the weekend. Linfield edged L&C 1-0 on Saturday, while Willamette rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Pioneers 4-2 on Sunday. |
