SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth women's lacrosse team will play a split schedule on the road this week. The Pirates will travel to Walla Walla, Washington to take on Whitman on Wednesday evening, before the Bucs travel to McMinnville, Oregon to play Linfield on Sunday afternoon.
Check the Whitworth lacrosse schedule for live links to his week's games.
The Pirates: Whitworth (4-4 overall, 1-1 NWC) split at home in the opening weekend of Northwest Conference play.
Whitworth lost to eight-time defending NWC champion George Fox 18-9 on Saturday afternoon in the NWC opener for both teams. The Pirates hung close until early in the third quarter before the Bruins closed the match on an 8-2 run. Sierra Witte led Whitworth with three goals, while Nikki Beers and Kenzie Hemman scored two apiece. Hemman added six draw controls, three caused turnovers and two ground balls. Sage Fosnock played 45 of the 60 minutes in net and allowed 13 goals while making seven saves. Kayla Jones stopped four shots and gave up five goals in her 15 minutes.
The Pirates bounced back to defeat Pacific (Ore.) 21-6 on Sunday. Whitworth outshot the Boxers 37-15, including a 26-8 edge in shots on-goal. The Bucs won 19 of the 31 draw controls. Campbell Vincent scored six goals and added three assists, while Hemman also scored a career-high six goals. Megan Whitman and Kenison Turner added three goals apiece. Whitman also led Whitworth with nine draw controls. Fosnock and Jones split time minding the net. Fosnock allowed four goals and made three saves, while Jones gave up two goals and made two stops.
The Bucs average 15.13 goals per game to rank second in the Northwest Conference. They are allowing 11.30 goals against per game. Whitworth leads the league in shots per match (32.88), 24.75 of which are on-target. The Pirates also lead the NWC in draw controls per match (17.88).
The Opponents: Whitman comes into Wednesday's contest 6-4 overall and 1-1 in the NWC. The Blues defeated Pacific 20-0 last Saturday before falling 11-9 to George Fox in a hard-fought contest on Sunday. A pair of first-year players lead Whitman's offense. Sarah Hawkins has 29 goals and 24 assists, ranking third in the NWC in assists and fifth in points per match (5.30). Lola McConaghy adds 24 goals and three assists. Sophomore goalkeeper Renn Novack allows 8.21 goals per game and leads the conference in save percentage (48.7%). Whitman defeated Whitworth 13-8 in Spokane on March 15 in a non-conference matchup between the teams.
Linfield is 7-3 overall and 3-0 in the NWC heading into the weekend. The Wildcats will play Whitman on Saturday before hosting Whitworth on Sunday. Linfield is coming off wins at Puget Sound (22-7) and Pacific Lutheran (20-1) last weekend. The Wildcats lead the NWC in goals per game (16.5) and in goals against average (7.17). Junior Gabby Crist has 46 goals and 17 assists to lead the league in goals per game (5.11) and points per game (7.0). Fellow junior Savannah Irwin has 23 goals and 23 assists, second in the NWC in assists per game (2.56). Junior GK Tenley Hodge allows only 7.65 goals per match with a save percentage of 36.9. Whitworth swept Linfield in 2024, winning 15-12 at home and 11-7 on the road.
Record Day: The 26 goals against Eastern Oregon on March 1st broke the previous school mark of 22 goals against Whitman set on March 6, 2022. The 14 assists vs. EOU topped the previous record of 11 assists vs. Pacific (Ore.) on April 20 of last season.
No Sophomore Slump: Campbell Vincent, who led the Pirates in goals scored in 2024 (56), is having another banner year in 2025. She has already tied her own school record with six goals in the season-opening match at George Fox and on Sunday vs. Pacific, the third and fourth time in her career she has reached that mark. She set a new team record with five assists vs. Eastern Oregon, surpassing the previous record of four shared by Abby Hahn and Rebecca Irwin. With 31 goals and 11 assists through eight matches, Vincent averages 3.88 goals per game (third in the NWC) and 5.25 points per game (sixth in the NWC).
The Coach: Noelle Brouillard is in her seventh season as head coach at Whitworth, the only seasons the Pirates have been a varsity program. Since the restart following COVID, Whitworth has shown dramatic improvement each year. The Bucs went 0-10 in 2021. They won five times in 2022, went 6-12 in 2023 and broke through with a 12-6 record in 2024, including an 8-4 mark in the NWC.
Brouillard came to Whitworth from the University of Scranton, where she was the top women's lacrosse assistant coach for two seasons. Scranton had a 22-13 record over the two years Brouillard served as assistant coach. The Royals advanced to the Landmark Conference tournament championship game in 2017 and finished with an 11-6 record. She played for four seasons at Allegheny College (Pa.), where she was a two-time team captain in 2012 and 2013.
Looking ahead: The Pirates will host Willamette and Lewis & Clark on April 18-19 in the final home contests of 2025.
