Recharged Whitworth ready

Sean Bushey is ready to go.

After beating Redlands 4-0 last Saturday, the Whitworth men’s soccer team will take on Wartburg in a Division III NCAA Tournament sectional matchup at 11 a.m. today at Whitworth Field.

Bushey, the team’s coach, could feel his team hunker down as the week went on.

“We were trying to recover from (Redlands),” Bushey said before Friday’s practice. “We did that and so Wednesday you could see the freshness come back in them. Thursday they were lively, which was good to see.”

It’s not uncommon, at this point in the season, to have the team start the week a touch slow before finding its legs.

“When you have the grind of the season, it starts to take its toll,” Bushey said. “Then the anticipation of the game starts to get the adrenaline flowing again. The latter part of the week is always better training.”

The better the training session, the better it will be as Whitworth (17-1-1) will take on a Wartburg side that can score in bunches.

The Knights (18-3-1) have scored 83 goals this season (Whitworth has scored 62) and are led by Harrison Kibombo-Lugujjo, who has 22 goals and six assists (50 points) on the season.

“They are a good, successful and hard-working group,” Bushey said. “They can play direct but have the ability to work the ball around.”

The Pirates, still riding the wave of momentum from the second-round romp over Redlands, may get a boost in the form of Todd Sabrowski, the Northwest Conference defensive player of the year.

Third on the team in scoring (nine goals, six assists, 24 points), Sabrowski missed the Redlands game with a hip pointer suffered in practice last week.

“He went through a training session Thursday and was doing OK. He is in a lot better condition than he was this time last week,” said Bushey, who gave Sabrowski a 60-40 chance of playing.