By: Cody Wright
SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth women's soccer hits the road this weekend to square off against defending Northwest Conference co-champions Puget Sound on Saturday and Pacific Lutheran on Sunday. Both matches will begin at 2:45 pm as the second leg of a men's-women's doubleheader.
Check the Whitworth women's soccer schedule for live links to follow the action.
Watch on FloCollege: All of Whitworth's Northwest Conference athletic events will be streamed through FloCollege in 2026-27. Fans can sign up to watch Pirate sports on the FloCollege portal. Registration is $120 for an annual subscription or $25 per month. Those who register with a .edu email address get a significant discount.
The Pirates: The Bucs moved to 3-5 overall and 2-4 in conference play after splitting last weekend's matches.
Whitworth scored a pair of unanswered goals to beat George Fox 2-1 on Saturday. The Bruins struck first in the 38th minute and carried the lead into halftime. The Bucs tied the game in the 61st minute on a penalty kick from Sylvie Washington. 13 minutes later, Grace Hansen's cross found Ayanna Tobeck who scored the game-winning goal. Karlee Roderick made three saves at goalkeeper.
The Pirates suffered a 1-0 loss to Willamette on Sunday. The loss came at the hands of a long lob pass downfield that created a one-on-one chance with only 30 seconds remaining in the match. Prior to the go-ahead goal, the Bucs had multiple quality looks on net but were unable to convert. Whitworth finished with a 13-12 advantage in shots, with three of those shots on target. Tobeck led the attack with four shots and Roderick made three saves.
The Opponents: Puget Sound heads into the weekend with an unbeaten overall (9-0-1) and conference (6-0) record. The Loggers are the top attacking team in the NWC, leading the league in several categories, including goals (23), goals per game (2.3), and shots on goal (74), all by relatively large margins. Defensively, they are tied for second in the NWC with seven goals allowed. Sophomore midfielder Kate Short, last season's NWC Rookie of the Year, leads the conference in shots (33), shots on goal (15) and goals (5). Senior goalkeeper Gianna Maldonado has started all 10 games and leads the conference goals against average (0.40). PS beat Whitworth 1-0 in Tacoma and played to a scoreless draw in Spokane.
Pacific Lutheran has been unable to repeat the same success as a season ago, sitting at 3-1-2 in conference play and 5-2-3 overall. The Lutes will battle unbeaten Whitman on Saturday. PLU is second in the conference in goals with 16, but are less strong defensively as they have allowed fourth most in the conference (11). Seniors Kyleigh Archer and Liv Olson lead the Lute attack, with Olson leading the team in shots and Archer tied for second in the NWC with four goals. Junior Mia Speir posts a 1.11 goals against average and NWC-high four shutouts in nine starts at goalkeeper. Whitworth has not beaten PLU since 2018.
The Coach: Whitworth soccer alum Cameron Bushéy is in his fifth season as head coach of the women's soccer team. The Pirates have a 32-33-20 record under Bushéy and a 28-26-14 mark in the Northwest Conference.
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: The Whitworth women will make their second trip to Oregon to play Linfield on Friday, October 16 and Lewis & Clark on Sunday, October 18.
