Heather Bowman - Assistant SID

SALEM, Ore. - The Whitworth women's soccer team was shutout Friday afternoon by Willamette University 2-0 in Salem, Oregon.

The Pirate defense held off the Bearcats (11-7-1, 10-4-1) until the 63rd minute when Maddy Grainger headed the ball in from two yards out to give Willamette the lead. NWC scoring leader Stephanie Skelly dished out the assist.

It was another header that put the dagger in the hearts of the Bucs late. In the 88th minute of play Skelly crossed another ball in front of the net where Ariel Wilson connected to head it in and make the final score of the match 2-0.

Outside of goals scored, the Pirates were statistically dominant. Whitworth had 12 shot attempts to counter Willamettes' 10 and the Bucs took seven corner kicks to WU's two.

Allie Smith (Sr., MF, Missoula, Mont.), Alex Fraser (Fr., MF, Spokane, Wash.) , Jackie Day (Fr., MF, Beaverton, Ore.) and Katrin Grant (Jr., F, Salem, Ore.) all managed shots on goal but were denied by Willamette goalkeeper Gina Barbieri at every turn.

The Whitworth women (8-6-4, 8-4-4) were bumped outside of the top three and moved into fourth place in Northwest Conference standings.