WALLA WALLA, Wash.  Poised for its fifth consecutive positive result -- against its foremost rival and the Northwest Conference's preeminent bully, no less -- host Whitman College opted instead to embrace optimism and shoot for a coup.

It was gutted in the last by the same tactic -- the counter -- that it had employed so effectively in fighting visiting Whitworth University to a draw late in the match. The first-place Bulldogs absconded with a 2-1 victory Saturday at the Whitman Athletic Fields after Rylan Berriman collected Alfredo Ornelas' pass behind the Whitman defense and scored the go-ahead goal with 3:43 left in the match.

Whitman (7-4-2, 3-2-2 NWC) had only moments earlier equalized. Noah Cavanaugh's crisp penalty kick rippled the back of the net after sizzling past diving Pirates' goalkeeper Timmy Costa for a 1-1 tie at the 84:41 mark, vindicating 40 prior second-half minutes of hard work by a Whitman squad that improved its counter-attack mightily after the break. But Cavanaugh's goal, set up after teammate Jacob Fritz bulled his way into the box, blasted a shot that Costa saved and was then tackled for a foul, tempted Whitman into a zone of near-reckless abandon.

"The adrenaline kicked in," Whitman head coach Jose Cedeno said. "We decided to go for it and try to win the game."

Whitman had played a conservative style, densely packing the defensive third and then looking to counter on a manpower budget, rarely sending extra bodies into the teeth of the Whitworth defense. Too often, Whitman was impatient on the counter.

The Pirates (7-3-1, 5-1-1) have the highest-scoring offense in the conference and generated plenty of chances in the first half, out-shooting their hosts 9-6.

But Whitworth was denied for the first 60 minutes. The visitors finally broke through when the conference's scoring leader, Jacob Snyder, netted his 11th goal of the season, running on to a perfect cross from Austin Cassity to beat Whitman net-minder Owen Davis-Bower for a 1-0 lead at the 59:46 mark.

Eric Conte (three shots, two on goal) was consistently one of Whitman's most threatening strikers and nearly drew the hosts level several minutes later, but his booming attempt from just outside the box was snuffed by a sprawling Costa, who saved all four Whitman shots-on-goal in the run of play. Conte's salvo was the first of a steady trickle of Whitman opportunities over the final 20 minutes of play, which saw Jimmy Jacobson and Paal Nilssen send dangerous shots from distance and eventually Fritz's savage challenge and the ensuing PK reward.

Whitman had 10 shots to Whitworth's eight in the second half.

"The effort has always been there. This group puts in a lot of work and has a lot of heart," Cedeno said. "Our expectations are to improve every game, and the fact that we were able to move the ball so well in the second half under extreme pressure was great to see."

In that regard, Cedeno was not disappointed at his zealous surge following the equalizer.

"They just played a great ball behind our defenders," he said. "I'm very pleased and proud. We're only halfway through conference, and we're still in the mix."

The loss was Whitman's first in five matches. Whitman visits Pacific (Ore.) University on Oct. 14.