NEWBERG, Ore.  The in-league portion of the women's lacrosse schedule began Saturday for Whitman as the Blues took on 2016 co-champion George Fox University on its home turf at the Austin Sports Complex. Though Whitman pulled to within a goal twice in the second half the host Bruins were able to put together a late scoring push to close out a 13-7 win over the visitors.

Whitman (1-3, 0-1 NWC) pulled within one, 6-5, early in the second half on free-position goals by Abbey Dias and Anna Melville, but Fox (2-0-, 1-0) answered with a goal to create some breathing room.

That space would be short-lived, however, as Whitman's Nina Moore scored her seventh of the season 90 seconds later to edge the Blues back to within one.

Fox, though, responded with its second three-goal barrage of the day to once again create some space between itself and the Whitman challengers.

The first of those triplets came late in the first half after Ellie Teare and Lindsay Schwartz converted free-position opportunities to even the score at 2-2.

The teams went back and forth with several scoring chances falling by the wayside until the Bruins scored at the 6:19, 5:06 and 3:05 marks of the half.

Mary Noyes notched her seventh of the year, this one off an assist from Teare, to trim Whitman's halftime deficit by one before heading into the halftime break trailing 5-3.

The distance grew by one early in the second before Dian and Melville connected to close the gap.

Teare was the one that halted the second three-goal run, scoring her second of the game to cut into the four-goal deficit..

But the Bruins had one more unanswered run in them and closed out the afternoon with three more while holding Teare and her teammates scoreless.

Whitman won that battle that it craves to win, draw controls (12-10), and fell only two shots shy of equaling the Bruins in total shots (28-16). The Blues also worked well inside the arc to force a game-best 10 free-position opportunities and converted five of those chances.

But the Bruins gained an edge in possession via a 31-25 advantage in ground balls, and added in 12 saves from goalkeeper Mikaela Easterlin to thwart Whitman's upset attempts.

Teare collected three points on the day -- two goals and an assist -- while five teammates scored once for the Blues. Nina Moore led the team in ground balls (four) and draw controls (six) and also added her goal and a caused turnover.

Goalie Kate Whittingham (1-3) came up with five saves in each half but ended the afternoon taking the loss.

Whitman heads to Pacific (Ore.) University -- the other co-champ from 2016 -- Sunday for its second conference match of the weekend.