Gameday: Pirates Open AAC Tournament Against SMU

Game 18: No. 5 SMU (10-6-1, 5-4-0) vs. No. 4 ECU (10-5-2, 5-4-0)
Date	Wednesday, October 31
Time	7:00 p.m. (EDT)
Location	Tampa, Fla. (Corbett Stadium)
Coverage	Live Stats \| Watch
Information	Game Notes (PDF)
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUwsoccer Instagram: @ECUwsoccer Facebook: @ECUwsoccer

GREENVILLE, N.C. – For the first time since 2015, the ECU women's soccer team will play in the AAC tournament as the Pirates battle SMU in first round action on Wednesday night in USF's Corbett Stadium.

"SMU will be a great challenge for us," said head coach Jason Hamilton. "Once you get to postseason play, the team that can come out and limit their big mistakes will come out on top. We expect it to be a very tight game."

The Pirates finished the regular season with a 10-5-2 overall record and a 5-4-0 AAC mark to earn the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament. The 10 wins are the most for the Pirates since winning 12 in the 2014 season while the five conference wins are ECU's most in the AAC. The Pirates enter the conference tournament as the No. 4 seed, their highest ever finish in the AAC. ECU finished the season 8-1 in Johnson Stadium, tying the program record for home wins in a season. The four-win improvement from last year's 6-10-2 record is the biggest single season jump since the 2008 team improved by five victories.

ECU finished the regular season with three straight wins, all of which were at home and were clean sheets. The three-match winning streak is tied for the second-longest in the conference heading into the playoffs, trailing just the seven straight won by USF. After beating Cincinnati 1-0 and UConn 2-0 last weekend, ECU collected a haul of weekly honors from the AAC. Cashlin Copley scored the game-winning goal in both games and was named AAC Offensive Player of the Week while Melanie Stiles made 13 saves between the two games, both of which she recorded shutouts in, to be named AAC Goalkeeper of the Week. Joining the pair in being honored by the conference was Kim Sanford. Sanford was named to the Weekly Honor Roll after assisting Copley's game-winning goal in the Cincinnati win as well as playing all 90 minutes in the win over UConn.

The Pirates are 7-15-3 all-time in the postseason and are 2-2 in the AAC tournament. ECU has made two appearances in the AAC tournament, the last in 2015 when the Pirates fell to UConn 3-1. ECU last won a postseason match came in the 2014 season, as the Pirates beat Houston 3-1 and Memphis 2-1 in overtime, before losing to USF 3-0 in the AAC semifinals. Courtney Cash and Jenna Dages are the only Pirates with postseason experience. Cash started and played 83 minutes in the 2015 loss to UConn. Dages played in a pair of Conference-USA playoff matches while at Louisiana Tech last season, including scoring the game-winning goal in the quarterfinals.

SMU enters the tournament as the No. 5 seed after finishing the regular season with a 10-6-1 overall record and a 5-4-0 AAC ledger. The Mustangs started the conference schedule 3-0 and were in first place, before three straight losses put their postseason hopes in jeopardy. SMU righted the ship with wins in two of its final three games to book its place in the conference tournament. SMU has four players with at least 10 points. Celiana Torres leads the team with 20 points on seven goals and six assists. Just behind her is Allie Thornton with a team-high nine goals and 18 points, Courtney Sebazco with 16 points, and Blair Thorpe with 10 points. In goal, Catie Brown has a 1.13 goals against average and has 60 saves.

"SMU is organized and compact defensively and play a big spread out shape offensively," Hamilton said. "We have to do a good job on the defensive side defending as a team and not have players chase. In the attack, we have to do a little bit better than we have at breaking down the opponent in the attacking half of the field."

SMU leads the all-time series between the two programs 7-5-2. The Mustangs had won three straight matches against ECU before the Pirates earned a 2-1 home win earlier this season. Goals from Daria Draovitch and Dages on either side of halftime gave ECU a 2-0 lead and although SMU got one goal back in the 84th minute, the Pirates held on for the victory.

"We are all excited for this opportunity to take another step for this program," Hamilton added. "For a young group, this experience is so valuable for us moving forward. There is nothing more exciting than postseason play and one game that is must win."

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m., in USF's Corbett Stadium. The match will be streamed on the American Digital Network, which can be found here.

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Players Mentioned

Courtney Cash

Cashlin Copley

Jenna Dages

Daria Draovitch

Kim Sanford

Melanie Stiles

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