WALLA WALLA, Wash.  Though the game clock was the only thing on the scoreboard getting consistent work, Wednesday night's 0-0 double-overtime Northwest Conference women's soccer draw between Whitman and visiting Whitworth University drew enough gasps, "oh my's", and "No, no, no!....Yes!" exclamations from coaches and fans to fill a season.

The goalkeepers, Bryanna Schreiber for Whitman (2-15-2, 2-11-2 NWC) and a trio of netminders for the Pirates (11-6-2, 10-3-2), collected 15 saves in the contest. And there was also a little bit of help from a crossbar, and a defender sweeping away a rolling ball before it crossed the goal line.

Schreiber claimed the bulk of the work coming up with 10 saves. But she also needed to give the goal frame a thank-you pat for some crossbar help, as well as a thank-you nod to teammate Saba Zewdie who cleared away a shot that had squeezed under the diving goalie and was rolling toward center net for a sure goal in the 48th minute.

The biggest saves of the night, though, came from Schreiber at the end of each overtime period.

With eight seconds left in the initial 10-minute extra frame Whitworth's Leah Corra had broken through a pair of defenders and charged toward the goal from the right side of the box. Her shot was stopped by Schreiber, though, with the 10-second countdown ringing through the PA system.

Late in the second OT a Whitworth shot from the right was curling under the crossbar only to have Schreiber leap and get a glove on the ball, deflecting it off the crossbar for an assisting save at the 1:07:50 mark.

The Pirates used the corner kick opportunity to generate another scoring opportunity, this time getting a point blank shot on frame from Michelle Wham. Schreiber was in perfect position for the stop, one that was likely painful as it teetered the sophomore onto her heels and eventually to the ground.

Whitman's scoring opportunities weren't as numerous -- the Pirates finished with an 11-5 edge in shots on goal -- but most of their five on frame were as dangerous as the ones Schreiber was stopping.

In the second overtime it was Pagan Hetherington who almost ended the game in the 103rd, getting off a shot from near the top of the box that threatened, but was stopped by the third Whitworth goalie, Jenna Rogers.

The Blues kept the pressure on, disallowing a transition out of their attacking third and getting off two more shots, one that was blocked by a defender and another that tracked just wide of the right post.

Second half action was, at long lengths, much more dynamic than the first half as the teams combined for 15 shots and eight saves, six from Schreiber.

Hetherington's near show-stopper in OT was not the first almost-game-winner from the Blues, as at the tail end of the second half Whitman's Emily Rigsby put a hard shot from the left on frame, but Rogers was there for the stop in the 88th to eventually send the game past regulation time.

The tie allows the Blues to climb past Lewis & Clark College in the league standings, while Whitworth was able to only move into a second-place tie with University of Puget Sound.

Whitman closes out its regular season Sunday at noon with a Senior Day match-up against visiting Linfield College. Zewdie and Olivia Thomson will be making their final appearances in a Whitman uniform.