SPOKANE, Wash. – Eric Shaporda scored a hat trick in the first fifteen minutes, Cole Friesen added to his conference-leading pace with a pair of goals and an assist in the first half, and the Whitworth Pirates dominated the visiting Lewis & Clark Pioneers 6-1 on Saturday.
Whitworth (7-3-1 overall, 5-1-1 NWC) won its fifth straight match, propelling themselves into a tie for second place with Willamette in the NWC with 16 points, just a point behind first place Pacific Lutheran.
Friesen, who's now scored two goals in four straight matches, is tied atop the conference in goals (13) and points (28).
Shaporda was too much to handle for the Pioneers (0-11 overall, 0-7 NWC) early on with goals in the 1st, 4th, and 14th minute. Christian Pumpelly was credited with two of those assists, as Shaporda continued to cash in on quality looks.
Shaporda' first goal was a rocket to the top corner of the net, his second squeezing just between the keeper and the post, before earning the hat trick with a point-blank touch right in front of the net.
Lewis & Clark managed its lone goal in the 3rd minute when Nadav Dicovski took the ball off the feet of Dominic Gusman and slipped a shot into the bottom corner to square the game 1-1 momentarily.
From there, the Pirates' attack was overwhelming as they outshot the Pioneers 20-3 and 13-2 in shots on goal, most of which came before halftime when they led 6-1.
Whitworth will seek to build on its longest win streak since 2015 (when they won 10 straight games on their way to a 16-2-1 record) at home against George Fox on Sunday. The Pirates are 5-0 at home in 2023.
