SPOKANE, Wash. – Danielle Wieck knocked home a penalty kick in the 78th minute, allowing visiting Whitman College to down host Whitworth University, 1-0, in Northwest Conference women's soccer action Wednesday afternoon.

A drive by Alissa Soo into the box resulted in a hard foul that left Soo temporarily down on the turf. When play resumed at the PK mark,-- with Soo back up and ready for action -- Wieck struck a right-footed shot into the lower-left corner of the goal for the Missionaries' first lead of the season.

Whitworth was able to mount a few probes into its attacking third over the remaining 12 minutes but each time was thwarted by either the Missionaries' (1-4, 1-0 NWC) back line or goalkeeper Haley Case who completed her shutout making eight saves against the Pirates (2-3, 0-1).

A sluggish first-half Whitman attack, when they failed to generate a shot on goal, turned up the heat quickly after the halftime break. It only took 73 seconds for the Missionaries to begin putting pressure on the Whitworth defense as Brianna Brown popped a shot over the crossbar on a solid scoring chance.

The Pirates countered and sent a shot off the post to nearly break the scoreless deadlock but Whitman answered with a Chelsea Day attempt that required Whitworth goalkeeper Andrea Stump to make her first save of the game. A quick change in possession put the ball back into the feet of the Missionaries and soon after another shot looked to be headed on frame before a defender was able to block it from harms way.

Whitworth was able to eventually push the ball up field where it generated one shot, wide of Case and the goal.

In the next 5 minutes and 37 seconds the Missionaries swarmed around the Pirates goal, reeling off five consecutive shots, two that were saved by Stump, two that were blocked by Whitworth defenders and one that sailed wide of the right post.

Case came up with two of her most difficult saves of the game in the 75th minute, and the resulting counter-attack after the second turned into the scoring chance on which Soo was fouled in the box.

At game's end Whitman had nearly doubled its shot total from the first half, 5 and 9, while limiting the host team to seven shots over the final 45 minutes.

The Missionaries return to the Whitman Athletic Fields for their next outings over the weekend, taking on conference foes Pacific University Saturday and George Fox University Sunday. Both games are scheduled for noontime starts.