2008 Woodie Awards
Loggers boot Pirates
Women's record-breaking season ends
Colin Zalewski, Staff Writer
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Whitworth advanced through the first round of the Division III NCAA tournament before being knocked out by conference rival University of Puget Sound in the second round last Sunday.
After finishing second in the Northwest Conference behind UPS, the Pirates received an at-large bid into postseason play.
Whitworth narrowly escaped in the first round against UC-Santa Cruz, but was unable to topple UPS, the only team to beat Whitworth all year.
The scoring opened in Saturday's game in the 24th minute when UCSC junior forward Annick Lamb pushed the ball up the left side of the field and ripped a shot. The shot beat Whitworth sophomore goalkeeper Krista Dietz, putting UCSC on top 1-0.
Whitworth responded in the 37th minute to tie the score when sophomore midfielder Lindsey Oakes hit a shot past UCSC senior goalkeeper Katie Loomis, and the teams walked off the field even at the half 1-1.
The second half grew intense as both teams fought for the go-ahead goal. Despite the efforts of both teams, the whistle blew to end regulation time with the teams still level at 1-1. The teams needed overtime to decide who would move into the second round.
"We were ready to crack them, we're always really confident when we go back out on the field," junior forward Penelope Crowe said.
With just over a minute gone in the overtime period, a scramble happened right in front of the UCSC net. Junior defender Kimberly Mitchell put her foot on the ball for the game-winning goal in the 92nd minute. Mitchell's goal ended the game and sent Whitworth into the second round.
UPS was kryptonite for the Pirates throughout the season, beating Whitworth in both matches this season. After Puget Sound took care of California Lutheran University last Saturday, it set up a rematch between the top two teams from the NWC.
The game could not have started much better for Whitworth, as the Pirates got an early goal to put them ahead. Crowe had an unassisted goal in the 4th minute to quickly put the pressure on UPS.
In the 13th minute, though, UPS leveled the contest at 1-1. Sophomore forward Janece Levien took the ball on the left side of the field and crossed towards the Whitworth 18-yard box. UPS senior forward Katie Gillette was there to head the ball into the back of the net for the goal.
At this point the first half scoring was not quite over.
Levien, who had three goals the last time the two teams matched up on Oct. 27, hurt Whitworth again with her second assist of the game in the 29th minute.
She played the ball to senior forward Adrienne Folsom, who put it past the keeper with one touch.
The halftime intermission arrived with UPS ahead 2-1.
The second half dragged on with the same score as the Pirates desperately tried to even the score. In the end, Puget Sound's 23 shots and two goals proved to be enough to send Whitworth home once again without victory.
"We just needed to play the full 90 minutes, we scored and kind of backed off a little bit," said junior defender Kelly Baker, responding to what went wrong during the game.
As the season concludes the Pirates will say goodbye to the five seniors that were on the team including goalkeeper Leah Motz, forward Greta Thibodeau, midfielder Erin Nakasone, midfielder Jael Hagerott and defender Sarah Brogden-Thome. Although they lose some key players, they are still looking forward to next year.
"Since we're only losing five I think we'll be able to rebuild and go as far if not farther next season," Baker said.
Finishing with a solid 18-3-0 overall record, improving for next year should be a challenging task, but with 24 returning players the Pirates will be looking to grab the NWC championship and advance in to the NCAA tournament once again.
Contact Colin Zalewski at colin.zalewski@whitworthian.com.
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