SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth women's lacrosse team will open Northwest Conference play on the road this weekend. The Pirates will take on Linfield University in McMinnville on Saturday and George Fox in Newberg on Sunday. Both contests are scheduled to begin at 1:00 pm.
Check the Whitworth women's lacrosse schedule for live links to this weekend's matches.
The Pirates: Whitworth extended its season-opening winning streak with two victories at the WhitLax Classic in Walla Walla last weekend. The Pirates are 3-0 for the first time in school history.
Campbell Vincent scored five goals as Whitworth won its first-ever match up against Lewis & Clark College 20-7 in Saturday's contest. The Bucs jumped to an 8-1 lead after one period and never looked back. Vincent had three of those first eight goals. Abby Hahn finished with three goals and set a Whitworth team record with four assists. Rebecca Irwin and Kenison Turner also scored three goals apiece. Sage Fosnock made a career-high ten saves.
On Sunday, Whitworth jumped to a 12-2 lead at halftime on the way to a 19-8 victory over Corban University. Ten different Pirates scored at least one goal in the contest, including three each by Irwin, Nikki Beers and Jordyn Bennett. Fosnock made seven more saves.
Milestone Opener: Whitworth won its season opener for the first time in school history, defeating Eastern Oregon 21-5 on Feb. 17. The Pirates started playing lacrosse in 2019 and had never won the first match of the season until this year. The 16-goal margin of victory was also the largest-ever for the Bucs, surpassing the 14-goal margin during a 19-5 win over Whitman in 2020.
Hot Start: Whitworth is 3-0 for the first time in school history. More impressively, the Pirates have scored 60 goals over that three-match stretch, far surpassing the previous best output of 41 goals during three matches in 2022. That 2022 total included a school-record 22 goals in a victory at Whitman. The three-match winning streak equals a 3-0 run from Feb. 18 through Feb. 26 last season.
The Opponents: Linfield College is 1-0 so far this season. The Wildcats will take on Whitman College on Friday before hosting the Pirates on Saturday. Linfield defeated Eastern Oregon 24-3 in its opener on Feb. 23. Gabby Crist had seven goals and Leah Stednick scored six in the win. The Wildcats are coming off a 3-11 season in 2023, 3-9 in the NWC. Whitworth defeated Linfield twice, 11-6 and 10-6, the Bucs' first two victories ever over the 'Cats.
George Fox has won or shared seven consecutive NWC titles in women's lacrosse. Last season the Bruins went 17-2 overall, 12-0 in the NWC, losing in the first round of the NCAA Div. III tournament. GFU opened its 2024 schedule against with a hard-fought 16-14 loss to fellow 2023 NCAA tournament participant Mount Union (Ohio). Carleigh DeLapp had five goals and an assist, while Ava Bluhm also scored five. The Bruins swept the Pirates 24-5 and 23-5 during the regular season before defeating Whitworth 20-2 in the first-ever NWC tournament semifinals.
Coming up next: Whitworth will have a weekend off before playing Whitman (March 20) and Puget Sound (March 23) the following week.
