SPOKANE, Wash. – Eric Shaporda assisted on Whitworth's first goal and scored the eventual match-winner to lift the Pirates to a 3-2 victory over visiting Northwest University on Sunday afternoon at the Whitworth Soccer Field.

The Pirates improved to 2-0 after handing the Eagles (3-1) their first loss of the season.

Cole Friesen scored the match's first goal for the Bucs in the 33^rd minute.  Shaporda set up the breakaway effort and Friesen finished to the bottom right corner for his fourth goal of the weekend.

Northwest tied the match in the 53^rd minute when Jacen Stein changed direction on the right side of the box, dribbled around three Pirate defenders and fired a left-footed shot into the upper-right corner of the net.

Keegan Davis gave Whitworth the lead back five minutes later.  He came forward from his center-back position to fire a shot from outside the top of the box through several players into the bottom-left corner.  Christian Pumpelly had the assist.

Pirate goal-keeper Aiden Chase set up the next goal with a long pass forward that Shaporda chased down past the Eagle defenders.  He was fouled in the box and converted the free kick in the 70^th minute for a 3-1 lead.

Northwest's Brayden Corwin made things interesting in the 88^th minute, stealing an attempted clearing pass and scoring from the top corner of the box to pull the visitors within one. 

The Eagles finished with a 14-11 edge in shots, but the Pirates had a 7-6 advantage in shots on-target.  Both teams played two keepers.  Michael Kot (1 save) played the first half for Northwest, while Alexander Thiehofe (3 saves) was in net in the second half.

Similarly, Anton Dershem (2 saves) started for Whitworth, while Chase (2 saves) played the final 45 minutes.

The Pirates will travel to Santa Cruz, California for a pair of NCAA Division III non-conference contests next weekend.  They take on the host Banana Slugs on Friday, then play Cal Lutheran at UCSC on Sunday.