East Carolina University
SMU
Soccer Edged By SMU, 2-1
October 11, 2009 | Soccer
Oct. 11, 2009
DALLAS, Texas - SMU freshman Shelby Hartweck scored two goals within the first 12 minutes as the Mustangs defeated the East Carolina soccer team 2-1 Sunday afternoon at Westcott Field. The loss drops East Carolina to 8-4-2 overall with a 3-3 record in Conference USA. SMU moves to 4-8-1 and 2-3-1 in C-USA.
The Pirates are now 1-3 in series history against SMU, as the only victory came last season.
"This was a disappointing performance," head coach Rob Donnenwirth said. "SMU came out with a sense of urgency and we did not."
East Carolina fell behind 3:06 into the game when Hartweck scored her second goal of the season. Kristin Medeiros sent Hartweck a long pass and recorded an assist on the play. It was the host's second shot of the contest as Kenzie Scovill took the first at 1:43.
The offense for the Mustangs continued, as they took two more shots before Hartweck scored again after collecting a rebound off the goalpost at 11:33. Scovill and Leslie Briggs notched assists on the play.
East Carolina recorded its first shot of the game at 12:43 when sophomore Jessica Woodward fired, but SMU goalkeeper Courtney Webb made the save. It was the only shot on goal for the Pirates in the opening half.
Neither team took another shot on goal until 29:24 when ECU freshman goalkeeper Berit Hansen made the save on a Briggs attempt. Kim Peabody nearly put SMU ahead 3-0 at 30:07, but she hit the crossbar. The Mustangs did not relent, as they took three more shots between 30:39 and 32:32, with the last being on goal.
The Pirates finished with just four shots in the first half. SMU took 11 shots in the period with five on goal and also had a 5-2 edge in corner kicks.
"We never really played with the heart I know this team has until the last 10 minutes of the game," Donnenwirth said. "We need to play better from here if we want to make the Conference USA Tournament."
SMU's offense continued to collect shots at the start of the second frame, taking three, along with two corner kicks, within the first nine minutes. Hansen made two saves during that span.
Pirate sophomore Kimmy Cummings had a shot attempt at 62:41, but it was blocked. The Mustangs took nine shots before East Carolina registered another attempt. Freshman Hali Oughton took a shot at the 83:30 mark that Webb stopped, but left a rebound. Sophomore Amanda Malkiewicz corralled the loose ball and put it into the back of the net to cut the deficit to 2-1.
It was Malkiewicz' fifth goal of the season and gave her the team lead in points with 14. The assist was Oughton's first of her career.
ECU could not complete the comeback, however, as Woodward took the team's final shot at 84:41, but missed wide.
For the game, the Pirates were outshot 22-8 and SMU had nine corner kicks compared with ECU's three.
East Carolina continues road Conference USA games next weekend, traveling to Colorado College and UTEP. The Pirates face the Tigers at 4 p.m. Friday and the Miners at 2 p.m. Sunday.
