By: Cody Wright
SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth Pirate women will wrap up their season in Spokane this weekend with matches against Pacific Lutheran on Saturday and Puget Sound on Sunday. Both matches will start at 1:45.
Check the Whitworth women's soccer schedule for live links to follow the action.
The Pirates: Whitworth moved to 11-4-2 overall and 9-3-2 in the Northwest Conference after two hard-fought wins last weekend. The Pirates remain tied with Puget Sound for second place in the NWC standings.
Whitworth held on to a 3-2 win at Willamette on Saturday. Emma Ellerd scored her first goal of the season in the 14th minute with a header off a corner kick from Taliya Miyama. Yacine Bitibale scored her seventh goal of the season to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead in the 48th minute. The Bearcats scored two second half goals to even the score, but Rebekah Hines took a shot from outside the penalty box that found the back of the net to give the Pirates a game winning goal in the 82nd minute. This was also Hines first goal of the season.
The Pirates defeated Lewis & Clark 3-2 on Sunday. Whitworth scored three second-half goals to put them on top in a back-and-forth match. Lewis & Clark would score a goal in the first half before Claire Nguyen and Emma Ellerd each scored a goal two minutes apart to put the Bucs on top. The Pioneers evened the game in the 81st minute before Lily Cardenas one-touched a cross from Baylee Trejo past the keeper for Whitworth's second game winner of the weekend.
With the win on Sunday, the Pirates won their sixth straight match, a feat last accomplished in 2010.
NWC Standings Update: Pacific Lutheran solidified first place in the NWC over the weekend, now with 38 points and a 12-0-2 conference record. Puget Sound (8-1-5) remains tied with Whitworth (9-3-2) for second place with 29 points each. Whitman (8-4-2) jumped into fourth place with 26 points and Willamette (5-6-3) drops to fifth with 18 points. There is drop off to sixth place.
The Opponents: PLU comes into the week with a 13-1-4 overall record and 12-0-2 mark in the NWC. The Lutes clinched the NWC title after defeating Pacific 2-1 and George Fox 2-1 over the weekend. Senior forward Hannah Cecil leads the conference in goals (11) and points (25) coming into the match. PLU edged Whitworth 2-1 in their first meeting on October 13th.
Puget Sound sits at 8-4-6 overall and 8-1-5 in the NWC after two wins over the weekend. The Loggers are now on a three-game winning streak after defeating George Fox 5-0 and Pacific 2-0 in Tacoma. Junior forward Leila Hausia-Haugen leads the team with seven goals and 18 points. Puget Sound and Whitworth played to a 1-1 draw in their first matchup on October 12th.
The Coach: Whitworth soccer alum Cameron Bushey is in his third season as head coach of the women's soccer team. The Pirates followed up a 6-8-5 record during his first year in 2022 with a 9-6-5 mark (9-5-2 NWC) last season.
Bushey came from Stanislaus State, where he was the top assistant coach. Bushey has club coaching stints in Spokane and Colorado and he was an assistant at Gonzaga University for two seasons (2018-19). He graduated from Whitworth in 2012 as a four-time All-NWC honoree who helped lead the Pirates to three NWC titles and NCAA Division III tournament appearances in 2008 and 2009.
Coming up: Whitworth's season will conclude after the matches this weekend. Watch whitworthpirates.com for all Northwest Conference announcements.
