WALLA WALLA, Wash. - Whitman College received goals from Bea Sheffer, Nina Henelsmith and Maddie Florer Sunday afternoon in a Northwest Conference women's lacrosse match, but visiting George Fox University picked up goals from six different players to beat back the Missionaries for a 9-4 victory at the Whitman Athletic Fields.

A second-half rally from the Whitties (1-2, 1-1 NWC) trimmed an 8-1 deficit to just a four-goal disadvantage with 15 minutes to play but the Bruins (1-1, 1-0) were able to win the possession game over the remaining time and also thwart the last few parries from the Whitman attack.

Sheffer's consecutive goals a third of the way through the second half sparked Whitman which drew to within four on Florer's tally off a feed from Lindsay Schwartz less than a minute after Sheffer's second. Twice in the next minutes scoring opportunities for Whitman were repelled by the Fox defense, eventually allowing the Bruins to work the clock down by cycling their attack and even pulling off free position shots to maintain possession and run off more clock.

Turnovers from a pressuring defense slowed down Whitman's attack all afternoon. The Missionaries, who won more draw controls (8-6) and picked up more ground balls (24-21), fell behind in the turnovers category, surrendering possession 24 times compared with Fox's 21 turnovers.

The momentum, however, had clearly swung in Whitman's favor after its three-goal binge in the second half. It simply couldn't find that fifth score to really threaten Fox's lead down the stretch.

First-half action saw the Bruins gain a 4-0 lead behind a shots advantage nearly doubling Whitman's. The scoreboard finally changed for the Missionaries with seven seconds left in the half with Nina Henelsmith's goal on a man-up opportunity.

In the cages both goalkeepers completed their days with eight saves apiece on an identical four saves per half. But Fox's Mikaela Easterlin earned the win while Savannah McNichol was saddled with the loss for the Whitties.

Whitman heads south into California for its next games, hitting up Whittier College on March 11, Pomona-Pitzer College the next day, and finally Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on March 14.