SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth University is set to host the 2025 WhitLax Classic this weekend in the Whitworth Pine Bowl. The Pirates will play Eastern Oregon University on Saturday and a club team from Montana State University on Sunday. Fellow NWC member Whitman College is the fourth school in the tournament.
Check the Whitworth baseball schedule for live links to his week's games.
The Pirates: Whitworth has started the season 0-2 with road matches in Oregon last weekend, but there are still strong signs of improvement for the Pirates.
Whitworth lost its season opener 18-14 at defending NWC champion George Fox on Saturday in a non-conference contest. The result is the closest in Whitworth's short history against the perennial conference power. Campbell Vincent tied her own school record with six goals, while Sierra Witte had two goals and two assists. Kenzie Hemman and Kennison Turner also scored twice for the Bucs. Megan Whitman had a match-high 10 draw controls. Sage Fosnock made 13 saves in goal.
Whitworth fell to 2025 NWC preseason favorite Willamette 16-9 on Sunday. The Pirates were within 11-9 late in the third quarter, but could not find the net over the final 18 minutes of the match. Vincent finished with three goals and an assist, while Witte and Turner each had a pair of goals and an assist. Whitman and Witte had seven draw controls apiece.
The Opponents: Eastern Oregon comes into the weekend 0-3 after dropping a 15-11 decision at home vs. Puget Sound on Sunday. The Mountaineers had previously lost on the road to NWC-members Pacific (17-10) and Pacific Lutheran (12-6). A pair of seniors lead EOU in scoring. Jade McCoy has 10 goals, while Claire Bever has eight goals and an assist. First-year Addi Bomberger has played every minute in goal for the Mountaineers. Whitworth defeated Eastern Oregon 21-5 at home in last year's season-opener.
Little information is available about the MSU club team. They were a late replacement for Corban University, a school that dropped its program during the 2024-25 academic year. The match will not count towards Whitworth's won-loss record or as official statistics.
The Coach: Noelle Brouillard is in her seventh season as head coach at Whitworth, the only seasons the Pirates have been a varsity program. Since the restart following COVID, Whitworth has shown dramatic improvement each year. The Bucs went 0-10 in 2021. They won five times in 2022, went 6-12 in 2023 and broke through with a 12-6 record in 2024, including an 8-4 mark in the NWC.
Brouillard came to Whitworth from the University of Scranton, where she was the top women's lacrosse assistant coach for two seasons. Scranton had a 22-13 record over the two years Brouillard served as assistant coach. The Royals advanced to the Landmark Conference tournament championship game in 2017 and finished with an 11-6 record. She played for four seasons at Allegheny College (Pa.), where she was a two-time team captain in 2012 and 2013.
Looking ahead: The Pirates will host Whitman in a non-conference match on Saturday, March 15.
