East Carolina Soccer Travels to Tulsa, Memphis
October 08, 2014 | Soccer
ECU Game Notes 
| Tulsa Notes | American Conference Notes
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina women's soccer team will play its first American Athletic Conference road matches at Tulsa and Memphis. The Pirates will meet the Golden Hurricane at 8 p.m., Thursday night, before challenging the Tigers on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 2 p.m.
ECU enters the weekend well-rested, as Thursday's contest at Tulsa (7-5-2, 1-2-1 American) will be its first in six days and just the second in the previous11. Last Friday evening, East Carolina (7-4-1, 1-2-0 American) suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Cincinnati.
The Pirates own a perfect 4-0-1 record in road matches in 2014. Their last road match was Sept. 19 at UNC Wilmington, where they played to a scoreless draw after 110 minutes of action. ECU's wins came at UNC Greensboro, Francis Marion, George Mason and Western Carolina. Dating back to last season, East Carolina is 6-0-2 in its last eight road matches, with the last loss in a true away game coming at UAB on Oct. 6, 2013.
SCOUTING TULSA
The Golden Hurricane is winless in its last three matches, with its last victory coming in a 3-2 double-overtime triumph against USF back on Sept. 25. Tulsa owns a 6-1-1 home record and is ranked fourth in assists (19), points (61) and shutouts (5), fifth in goals (21), and sixth in shots (184) in the conference this season. Rachel Thun has a team-best seven goals and five assists for 19 points, while Christina Holmes has six goals. Lauren King has four goals, three of which were game-winners, and two assists for 10 points.
SERIES HISTORY
East Carolina and Tulsa are relatively familiar with one another, as both schools left Conference USA and joined The American on July 1, 2014. The Pirates own a 5-2-1 lead in the all-time series. The two teams last met in the first round of the 2012 C-USA Tournament, where the Golden Hurricane advanced with a 1-0 overtime victory.
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. The two scores marked her first-career multi-goal game and she was chosen as the league's Offensive Player-of-the-Week.
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 the 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.
