SPOKANE, Wash. – Coming off the first two Northwest Conference victories of the season, the Whitworth women's soccer team heads back out on the road to take on Lewis & Clark (Saturday) and George Fox (Sunday). Both matches are scheduled to start at noon.
See the Whitworth soccer schedule for live links to this weekend's matches. Fans interested in attending the games should visit the host schools' athletics websites for their current spectator policies.
The Pirates: Whitworth is 5-2-1 overall and 2-1-1 in the NWC following last week's wins over Whitman and Willamette.
The Bucs scored two first half goals and made those stand up in Wednesday's 2-0 victory over Whitman. Laura Pierson scored from an assist by Savannah Acpal in the 16th minute. Ireland Eaton added a goal in the 42nd minute. Kate Nelson made seven saves to post her fourth shutout of the season.
Whitworth scored two second half goals to pull away for a 3-1 win over Willamette on Sunday. Kalena Pfaeltzer scored in the fourth minute to give the Pirates an early lead, but the Bearcats tied the match just before halftime. Kaitlin Speer scored from an assist by Riley Martinson in the 66th minute to put the Bucs back ahead. Kendall Sharp headed in a Macey Morales corner kick in the 79th minute for the insurance goal. Nelson made four more saves.
Building a Wall: Kate Nelson has been strong in goal for the Pirates. She is the current NWC women's soccer student-athlete of the week on defense after she allowed only one goal and made 11 saves in two victories last week. Overall Nelson has a 0.73 goals-against average this season and has stopped 87% of the shots she has faced.
Finding Balance: Whitworth is very balanced offensively this season. Ten different Pirates have scored the team's 14 goals. Gabriella Coprivnicar, Macey Morales, Ireland Eaton and Kendall Sharp each have two. Seven players have combined for the Bucs' nine assists. Coprivnicar and Morales each have two.
The Opponents: Lewis & Clark is 4-3-1 overall and 2-2 in the NWC. The Pioneers won 1-0 vs. Pacific (Ore.) last Saturday before falling 2-0 to league-leading Pacific Lutheran on Sunday. Junior forward Chloe Helenihi leads the team with four goals, while sophomore Celeste Schreifels has three goals and three assists. The teams last played in 2019. Whitworth won 3-0 in Spokane and the squads tied 1-1 in Portland.
George Fox is 5-3 overall and 3-1 in the NWC. The Bruins are one spot ahead of the Pirates in third place. GFU lost 2-1 at home to second place Puget Sound last Saturday before rebounding to defeat Linfield 2-0 on Sunday. Freshman forward Taylor Ho leads her squad with two goals and two assists, but like Whitworth the Bruins are very balanced. Nine different players have scored goals for George Fox. The Pirates swept the Bruins in 2019, winning 3-0 at home and 1-0 on the road.
The Coach: Bryan Olson, previously the top assistant coach for the highly successful Whitworth men's soccer program, was named as the head coach for the Pirate women's soccer team in February of 2016 and enters his sixth year leading the Bucs in 221. He is 44-38-8 in five seasons as a head coach, including a 12-5-3 overall record in 2018 and a 10-4-2 mark in the Northwest Conference (third place).
Olson was the top assistant coach for the Whitworth men's soccer team for six seasons. His title was elevated to Associate Head Coach ahead of the 2015 season. Over that time the Pirate men's team posted a record of 66-17-12 and made the NCAA Division III Tournament three times (2012, 2014 and 2015).
Coming up next: Whitworth will host Pacific (Ore.) and Linfield on October 9th and 10th.
