East Carolina University
Southern Miss
Pirates Down Southern Miss 2-1 in Conference USA Opener
October 05, 2007 | Soccer
Oct. 5, 2007
East Carolina 2, Southern Miss 1 (PDF)
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HATTIESBURG, Miss.--The East Carolina women's soccer team opened the Conference USA portion of the schedule in style, as the squad defeated Southern Miss 2-1 Friday afternoon. ECU is now 7-1-2 on the year, 1-0-0 in C-USA action, extending its unbeaten streak to eight straight. With the loss, the Golden Eagles fall to 4-6-0, 0-1-0 in conference play. East Carolina is now a perfect 6-0-0 all-time against USM.
The Pirates got on the board quick, as Blair Heffner tallied her fourth goal of the season three minutes into the contest off a pass from Anastasia Nikas and Jessica Swanson as she found the back of the empty goal. ECU took a 1-0 lead into the break.
East Carolina added to its lead on an Amanda Broz goal in the 66th minute. She gave the Pirates the 2-0 lead off a throw in play from Jami Dickerson, tallying her second goal of the season.
Southern Miss attempted a late rally, as Sarah McFadden scored on a pass from Megan Kolts with a minute and a half remaining in the contest, making the final score 2-1 in favor of the Pirates. The USM goal ends a streak of 804 minutes that the Pirates have gone without allowing a goal. The 804 mark ranks 20th all-time in NCAA history for minutes without allowing a goal.
"I thought we started the game really well, we were able to score an early goal," head coach Rob Donnenwirth stated. "I thought we had good possession in the first half, we seemed to be in good control. It really felt that we had the game in control. We have to give credit to Southern Miss in the second half. They were really aggressive and did a good job beating us to every 50-50 ball. They put us on our heels a lot. Amanda Broz did a good job scoring on a throw in, which was a play that we had been working on for a while."
"Their goal came with 1:30 left in the game. The not allowing a goal streak is over, but it is not always pretty on the road. You have to really battle away from home, you have to scratch and claw for a win and that is what our team did tonight."
The Pirates continue their opening weekend of Conference USA action as they travel to Orlando to take on regionally ranked UCF Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
