East Carolina Soccer Hosts Cincinnati Friday Night
October 02, 2014 | Soccer
ECU Game Notes 
| American Conference Notes
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina women's soccer will close out a four-match home stand with an American Athletic Conference battle against Cincinnati at 7 p.m., Friday night at Johnson Soccer Stadium.
The match will be HYSA Night, where members of the Havelock Youth Soccer Association receive $2 admission, while the HYSA U-10 Fury will scrimmage at halftime.
Last weekend, East Carolina (7-3-1, 1-1-0 American) split its first two American Athletic Conference matches. The Pirates suffered a tough, 2-1 overtime loss in the 99th minute to UConn, but bounced back with a 2-0 win over Temple for their first league win of the year.
SCOUTING CINCINNATI
The Bearcats, who are East Carolina's American Conference travel partner on a weekly basis, split home games versus UConn and Temple last weekend. Katy Couperus leads the team with 15 points on five goals and five assists, as Danielle Rotheram is tied with her for the team lead in goals scored. Jae Atkinson owns a league-leading eight assists so far this season. Cincinnati (7-3-2, 1-1-0 American) is out-shooting opponents by a staggering 222-95 clip, while holding a 100-34 edge in corner kick opportunities.
SEASON OF SHUTOUTS
ECU has posted eight shutouts so far in 2014, which ranks tied for fourth in program history with the 2006 squad. Only the 2008 (9), 2012 (10) and 2007 (11) teams held more opponents scoreless in a single season.
SPITLER'S SCORING SPREE
Sophomore striker Lana Spitler scored three goals in East Carolina's first two American Athletic Conference matches versus UConn and Temple, including two tallies against the Owls on Sept. 28, and was chosen as the league's Offensive Player-of-the-Week. The two scores against Temple marked her first-career multi-goal game, and she became the first Pirate to score twice and record four points in a game since Kimmy Cummings on Oct. 21, 2011 against Rice.
LENNS GETS THE CALL
Senior and backup goalkeeper Erika Lenns earned her first-career start and posted a four-save shutout versus Campbell on Sept. 21. She followed that up with a career-high seven saves against UConn on Sept. 25 before shutting out Temple on Sept. 28. Her efforts were honored when she was named American Athletic Conference Goalkeeper-of-the-Week on Sept. 29.
ROAD BLOCKING
East Carolina recorded a five-match winning streak, including four-straight on the road at Western Carolina (8/24), George Mason (8/29), Francis Marion (9/1) and UNC Greensboro 9/12). The last time the Pirates won five-straight games via shutout was in 1999.
BARON'S BARREN NET
Redshirt junior goalkeeper Saundra Baron posted five-straight shutouts, at Western Carolina (8/24), at George Mason (8/29), at Francis Marion (9/1), home versus Davidson (9/5) and at UNC Greensboro (9/12). She is the first ECU goalkeeper since Amber Campbell in 2007 to accomplish the feat and held opponents scoreless for a span of 505 minutes and 20 seconds. She has six total shutouts so far this season.
HERRING COMES UP HUGE
Senior midfielder Lexi Herring intercepted a goal kick in the 69th minute and beat the goalkeeper for her first-career game-winning goal at UNC Greensboro (9/12). She later notched her first-career assist on a go-ahead goal versus UConn (9/25).
SO FARY, SO GOOD
Freshman striker Brittany Fary has started each of the team's first five matches in 2014. The Centreville, Va., native scored her first-career goal in the 6-0 win at Francis Marion on Sept. 1 , earning her American Athletic Conference Rookie-of-the-Week honors.
SPITLER SISTERS STRIKE
Senior Brianna Spitler and sister Lana scored both goals in the Pirates' 2-0 win over Davidson (9/5). Lana's goal was the third of her career and first game-winner. It also marked the first time Lana scored in back-to-back games.
