Whitworth men show bounce-back ability
Whitworth University’s men’s team failed the first of its two big tests last weekend but nailed the second, giving coach Sean Bushey reason to draw a huge sigh of relief.
The Pirates, ranked No. 8 at the time, suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday when visiting Puget Sound scored just 40 seconds into double overtime to post a 1-0 upset and knock the Bucs out of the top spot in the Northwest Conference standings.
But they bounced back with a quick start against Pacific Lutheran on Sunday and held on for a 3-2 win over the Lutes as Caleb Barnhill picked up his NWC-leading seventh goal.
“After losing a heartbreaker like we did against Puget Sound, you always wonder how your players will respond,” said Bushey, who is in his 13th season as Whitworth’s men’s coach. “But I thought we came out strong against PLU and responded very well.
“The game threw a lot of different things at us, and our guys responded each time. We have a good level of maturity and good leadership, which was key. It was a great win for us, for sure.”
Not only did it help erase the painful memories from Saturday, but it also put the Bucs (7-1-1 overall, 3-1 in the NWC) in position to regain the conference lead this weekend when league-leading Whitman (5-0-5, 3-0-1) comes in for a Sunday showdown that kicks off at 2:30 p.m.
“They’ve been kind of knocking on the door the past couple of years,” Bushey said of the Missionaries, who are off to one of the best starts in school history. “They had a solid season last year, but lost some tight games, and I think they’re drawing off that experience now.
“I’m sure they’ll roll in here with a lot of confidence.”
Pac-10 honors Coug
Washington State’s Lindsay Parlee, a sophomore goalkeeper from Tualatin, Ore., was named the Pacific-10 Conference Women’s Soccer Player of the Week on Tuesday after recording 10 saves and posting back-to-back shutouts in the Cougars’ non-conference wins over Gonzaga and Idaho.
Parlee ranks 24th nationally with a save percentage of 87.2 and leads the Pac-10 with an average of 4.56 saves per match.
Difficult trip for NIC
As road trips go, it doesn’t get much tougher than the one North Idaho College’s women will confront this weekend when the Cardinals (7-4-1) travel to Cheyenne, Wyo., to participate in a three-team tournament hosted by Laramie County Community College.
First up for NIC is a Saturday showdown against Iowa Western Community College (12-1), which was ranked No. 1 nationally until suffering its first loss of the season last week. And on Sunday, the Cards will take on host LCCC, which was ranked No. 8 in last week’s NJCAA poll.
Corner kicks
In beating Gonzaga 1-0 and Idaho 2-0 last week, Washington State raised its record against those two regional rivals to 22-1-1. … WSU (5-2-3) is 1-1-1 against ranked opponents this year. … Eastern Washington goalkeeper Jessica Blessard leads the Big Sky Conference with a save percentage of 87.8 and ranks second with a goals-against average of 1.01 and third in saves per game at 6.0. … Whitworth’s men dropped from eighth to 20th in this week’s NCAA Division III rankings after suffering their first loss.