SPOKANE, Wash.  Saba Zewdie scored her first collegiate goal late in Wednesday afternoon's Northwest Conference women's soccer match at Whitworth University, but Zewdie and her Whitman College teammates weren't able to find the equalizer in the final minutes of a 2-1 loss to the host Pirates.

Whitworth (2-5, 1-2 NWC) scored early goals in each half to stake the home team to a two-goal advantage before Zewdie halved the deficit in the 83rd minute.

Sienna Tanner came up with the original save on a Zewdie shot seconds earlier but the goalkeeper and her teammates weren't able to defend the second shot from Zewdie that culminated a late spark from the Whitman (0-7, 0-3) attack.

Five minutes earlier Sofia Ellington and Pagan Hetherington had been pressuring Tanner.

Ellington rolled down the right touchline and broke in toward the right post late in her run, shielding a defender and getting off a sharp right-footed shot toward the back post. Tanner dove across the frame to deflect the shot, sending it further wide of the frame.

Hetherington had raced in from the left side and had a nice look at the goal but the momentum of Tanner's deflection didn't allow Hetherington to push the shot back into frame and it slipped just outside the left post.

Prior to that two-shot barrage Whitman hadn't been able to generate much on the attack in the half, its last shot before Ellington's coming nearly 18 minutes earlier.

Following Zewdie's marker Whitman gained a set piece opportunity from the corner with three minutes to play but a resulting shot by Kenz Tierney failed to slip under the crossbar.

Early action Wednesday looked to be favoring Whitman as it reeled off the opening four shots in the game. But two minutes after the last of the four, Whitworth's Courtney Potter lit up the scoreboard to provide her team with a 1-0 lead on their first shot of the game at the 8:32 mark.

Whitman won the battle of shots on goal but Tanner's eight saves were enough to allow her team to escape with the one-goal victory.

Next up for Whitman is a Saturday home contest against league foe Willamette University.