TACOMA, Wash. – A score from first-year Lindsay Schwartz pulled Whitman College to within a goal of Southwestern (Texas) University with nine minutes remaining Saturday in a non-conference women's lacrosse tilt, but the Pirates were able to fend off the Missionaries' upset bid and hold on for an 11-9 victory.

The contest, hosted by the University of Puget Sound at its East Athletic Field, was the season opener for Whitman (0-1), while Southwestern improves to 2-0 with the win.

In only its second season the Missionaries were in position to pull off the upset until the Pirates' final goal.

Southwestern scored first but Nina Henelsmith netted her first of the season shortly after to pull Whitman even. It was Schwartz -- with her first collegiate marker -- that again drew Whitman even at 2-2 after the Pirates had again grabbed hold of the lead.

Schwartz's second career goal provided the Whitties with their first lead of the game and proved to be the second of a 5-0 scoring run that lifted the surprising Missionaries to a 6-2 advantage over the stunned Pirates.

The four-goal cushion wouldn't last, however, as Southwestern responded with its own run, rattling the cage behind Whittie goalkeeper Savannah McNichol four times before the half, a streak that would send the contest into the break tied at 6-6.

Still, head coach Kate Robinson could have been only a little more pleased with her young team, playing only its ninth game in program history.

The 'fight' within her players continued into the second half as Southwestern and Whitman traded goals until tied at 8-8. It was consecutive goals from the Pirates at that point that actually did more damage than their earlier four-goal streak.

Though with nine minutes remaining Schwartz's fourth goal of the afternoon would trim the Whitman deficit in half, it would also be the final tally of the day for the Missionaries who surrendered a late goal that helped suppress the upset bid.

Schwartz's collegiate debut could hardly have gone better as her four goals were the game high. First-team All-Northwest Conference performer Bea Sheffer added three goals, including the equalizer that tied the game at 8-8.

Whitman owned the advantage in the circle as Henelsmith and Sheffer both collected three draw control wins apiece to help lift Whitman to a 10-6 advantage. And in their defensive third, the Missionaries only surrendered a pair of free-position attempts, both of which were fruitless for the Pirates.

About the only things that could have gone better for Robinson and her team would have been a closer margin in ground balls, which Southwestern led by a 24-19 count, and a mark in the win column in their first game of the season -- which is exactly what the team did last spring in the first game in program history.

The Missionaries will get a chance to put a mark in that win column in two weekends as they welcome University of Puget Sound to the Whitman Athletic Fields for a 12 p.m. conference game Saturday, March 5, followed by another league battle Sunday at noon against visiting George Fox University.