SALEM, Ore.  Whitman generated four of the initial six shots of Saturday's Northwest Conference women's soccer contest at Willamette University, but the visiting team would register only four more shots over the remainder of the game at Sparks Field as the host Bearcats scratched out a 2-1 victory behind a pair of second-half tallies.

Whitman (1-13-2, 1-9-2 NWC) picked up a goal in the 79th minute when a clearing attempt by Willamette's Annie Strom went awry and into her own team's net.

The opening of Saturday's contest brought about an aggressive Whitman attack as Pagan Hetherington and Sofia Ellington sandwiched a pair of shots around one by Willemette's Emmy Manset over the course of the first eight minutes of action.

In the 12th Whitman's Renee van Bergeijk aimed two shots toward the Willamette (7-6-2, 4-5-2) frame but both sailed wide of the posts.

The field began to tilt downhill for the Bearcats after van Bergeijk's successive shots with the next three sliding wide left of the Whitman goal.

Lena de Guzman eventually ended the off-frame attempts, forcing Willamette goalkeeper Kristen Barclay into a save at 18:10 that kept the game scoreless.

Whitman goalie Haley Case was called upon four minutes later and she, too, came up with a save to keep the scoreboard frozen at 0-0, numbers that would carry over into the start of the second half.

A goal from the Bearcats' Shanna Keil broke the deadlock in the 61st, and then a marker from Manset in the 73rd pushed Willamette's lead to 2-0.

After the Bearcats' own-goal in the 79th cut its lead in half Whitman was unable to find the equalizer before the final horn.

Case finished the day with four saves in the defensive third, and in the attacking third Hetherington and van Bergeijk registered three shots each for team-high honors.

Whitman is back home at the Athletic Complex fields Saturday and Sunday for its next pair of outings, Northwest Conference match-ups against George Fox University and Lewis & Clark College, respectively.