SPOKANE, Wash. – For the second time this season, the Northwest Conference co-leading Whitworth University Pirates narrowly avoided an upset by George Fox University, breaking a tie in the 81st minute to steal away with a 2-1 win over the Bruins in women's soccer action Sunday afternoon here at the Whitworth soccer field.

George Fox had trailed for over 50 minutes after the Pirates scored the game's first goal in the 24th minute, but finally knotted the contest at 76:11 when Alicia Wong put back a shot by Esther Harder that had been saved but not controlled by Pirate keeper Andrea Stump.  It was Wong's first goal of the season.

The Pirates avoided overtime and maintained a share of first place in the conference with Linfield College when Hannah Bokma scored her third goal of the year at 81:11 to break the tie.  Tiara Pajimola sent a cross from the right side of the box to the middle, where Bokma knocked it home past Bruin goalie Ally Swanson.  The Bruins' last chance to tie was a shot that was wide with three minutes remaining by Harder, who had half of their total of eight shots and two of their three shots on goal.

Pajimola scored the Pirates' first goal in the opening half when she slipped through the Bruin defense to receive a pass from Mackenzie Grow and sent it into the net at the 23:58 mark.  It was her eighth goal of the season.

Whitworth took 19 shots, with Pajimola taking seven of them, and had 11 on goal.  The Pirates also had a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks.  Swanson made eight saves for the Bruins, while Stump had two for the Pirates.

In their previous meeting on Sept. 22 in Newberg, the game went into overtime with no score before the Pirates escaped with a goal at the 98:25 mark in the extra period.

NEXT: With its road schedule now complete, George Fox (2-12-2, NWC 1-11) closes with four straight conference home games, starting Saturday at 12:00 noon against Linfield College ... Whitworth (9-5-2, NWC 9-1-2) goes to Willamette University Saturday for a conference game at 12:00 noon.