Three Pirates Earn AAC Postseason Honors

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – After the highest AAC finish in program history, the ECU women's soccer team had three members earn AAC postseason honors, as announced by the conference office on Tuesday afternoon.

For the third time in four seasons, Courtney Cash earned an AAC postseason honor. Cash was named to the American Athletic Conference Second Team for the second consecutive year. The senior from Cary, N.C., also earned a spot on the All-Rookie team in 2015. Cash has started all 17 games for ECU this season and is second on the team with 11 points, on five goals and one assist. Cash has been named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll on a pair of occasions this season and scored a pair of goals in a 3-0 win over Charlotte. She became the ninth Pirate to reach 40 career points, as she currently has 17 goals and six assists in a Pirate uniform.

"Cash has been the hardest working player on the team since I arrived," said head coach Jason Hamilton. "She really wanted her senior year to be a success and I am happy for her to get this recognition and have the year go so well for her and all of our seniors."

Joining Cash on the AAC Second-Team is junior Jayda Hylton-Pelaia. It is the second postseason honor of Hylton-Pelaia's career, as she was named to the All-Rookie team in 2016. Hylton-Pelaia has also started all 17 games and is second on the team in minutes played, trailing only goalkeeper Melanie Stiles. The Brampton, Ontario product has had a career-year offensively, scoring a pair of goals and adding four assists, which is tied for the team lead. Hylton-Pelaia has played the entirety of 12 games and had the game-winning goal against Campbell.

"In my eyes, Jayda is one of the top outside backs in this conference," Hamilton said. She is a shut down 1v1 defender and leads the team in assists. She also was a part of so many other goals where she didn't get an assist, but created the play in some sort."

Earning her first postseason honor is Grace Doran, who was named to the conference's All-Rookie Team. Doran, a redshirt fresman from Dearborn, Mich., has appeared in all 17 games, starting 16 of them, after transferring to ECU from Mississippi State. Doran has a goal and two assists this season, with the goal standing as the game-winner against Radford.

"We are glad to see Grace get some recognition," Hamilton added. "She is one of those players whose value doesn't necessarily show up on the stat sheet. She has been great defensively in the middle and her composure on the ball is very good."

With Cash and Hylton-Pelaia earning spots on the AAC Second-Team, ECU has now had at least one player earning such honors in all five seasons the Pirates have played in the AAC. Cash is the first player to earn all-conference honors in consecutive seasons since Lana Spitler did in 2015 and 2016. Doran is the third Pirate rookie in four seasons to be named to the All-Rookie team.

ECU will take on SMU in the first round of the AAC tournament on Wednesday evening. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m., in USF's Corbett Stadium.

Players Mentioned

Courtney Cash

Grace Doran

Jayda Hylton-Pelaia

Melanie Stiles

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