Whits women advance while men end season

Kimberly Mitchell scored a goal after a scramble in front of the net in the 92nd minute to lift the Whitworth Pirates women to a 2-1 overtime victory over the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs in an NCAA Division III playoff opener in Tacoma.

Whitworth’s women, playing in the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history, improved to 18-2 on the season. Santa Cruz finished with a 12-3-2 record.

The women advance to the second round and will play Puget Sound today at 1 p.m. The Loggers (19-1-1) defeated Cal Lutheran (8-11-4) 3-0 in the first match of the day. Puget Sound handed Whitworth its only two losses this season – both times by one-goal margins.

The Banana Slugs jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Annick Lamb sent a shot past Whitworth goalkeeper Krista Dietz in the 24th minute.

Whitworth pulled even on a goal by sophomore Lindsey Oakes, her team-leading 10th of the season, in the 37th minute.

Whitworth outshot Santa Cruz 16-10, including an 8-2 advantage in shots on goal. Loomis tallied six saves for the Slugs, while Dietz made one for the Pirates.

•The Whitworth Pirates men saw their season come to an end at the hands of the Wisconsin-Oshkosh Titans in the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs – falling 2-0 in Oshkosh, Wis.

Brian Miller scored in the 13th minutes to stake the Titans to a 1-0 lead and Greg Jones added an insurance goal in the 85th minute.

Whitworth (15-4-1) scored in the 43rd minute, but the goal was disallowed because the Pirates were offsides on the play.

Whitworth failed to score for only the third time this season.