SPOKANE, Wash. – Rebecca Irwin finished with four goals and four assists to lead Whitworth to a 21-5 win over visiting Eastern Oregon in the 2024 women's lacrosse season opener for both schools on Saturday afternoon in the Pine Bowl.
Ten different players scored for the Pirates, who posted the largest margin of victory in school history. The previous record for margin of victory was 14 goals during a 19-5 win over Whitman in 2020 before the season was cancelled by Covid-19.
Whitworth won the opening draw and scored the season's first goal only 16 seconds into the match as Megan Whitman scored from an assist by Sierra Witte. But the first quarter was mostly competitive as Eastern pulled within 4-3 with 6:48 to play in the period. The Pirates tallied the final three goals of the first, beginning a 17-0 scoring run. Six different players scored goals in the opening period with first-year Campbell Vincent the only Pirate to tally more than one.
After netting the final two goals of the first, Vincent scored first in the second, leading to a 9-0 outburst for the Pirates to break the match open. Kennison Turner scored three times in the second period as Whitworth took a 16-3 lead into halftime.
With the clock running constantly, the Bucs used much of the shot clock in each possession of the second half to run through the entire offense. Jordyn Bennett, Nikki Beers and Irwin had goals for Whitworth in the third.
The Pirates scored the first two goals of the fourth to open a 21-3 lead with 11 minutes to play in the match. EOU got its final two goals in the final eight minutes.
Irwin's seven points is a career-high. Beers, Vincent, Turner and Bennett all scored three each. Vincent, Turner and Bennet are all first-year Pirates.
Whitworth dominated on the draw control, winning 24 and losing only five. Kenzie Hemman had nine draw controls for the Bucs.
Sage Fosnock started in goal for Whitworth and made three saves in nearly 57 minutes. Faith Rempfer played the final 3:16 for the Bucs.
Whitworth will not return to action until the WhitLax Classic on March 2-3 at Whitman College.
