Pirates Travel To Tulsa

Match 16: East Carolina (7-7-1, 2-2-1 AAC) at Tulsa (6-7-1, 1-4-0 AAC)
Date	Sunday, October 17
Time	1 p.m. (EDT)
Location	Tulsa, Okla. (Hurricane Stadium)
Coverage	Live Stats \| ECU Game Notes
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUsoc Instagram: @ECUSoc Facebook: @ECUwsoccer

GREENVILLE, N.C. – With three games left in the regular-season, the East Carolina soccer team will look to shore up a playoff spot as they travel to Tulsa for a Sunday afternoon matchup.

"The conference race is very tight and every game is important," said Head Soccer Coach Jason Hamilton. "Tulsa has their backs against the wall and it is always scary playing a team that knows they need to get a result. This is one of the harder trips in the conference as you have to take two flights to get there."

East Carolina (7-7-1, 2-2-1) is on its longest unbeaten streak of the season, having won three straight following a draw at Cincinnati. The Pirates had perhaps their best weekend of the season last week, winning two games in decidedly different fashions. On Thursday, East Carolina fell behind Temple early on, but held the majority of the game's possession and shots which helped the Pirates take a 2-1 victory. On Sunday, it was Houston that dominated the possession and shots, but the Pirates kept the Cougars off the scoreboard and then took advantage of a Haley McWhirter goal in the 102nd minute to snatch a 1-0 road win.

"Our group have to look back at last weekend and know they are capable of going on the road and getting a win," Hamilton said. "We have seemed to hit our stride at the right time and that is so important when in a conference like this. We have to continue to push forward and put ourselves in a good spot for postseason play by getting a result this weekend."

McWhirter's goal helped earn her second straight AAC Rookie of the Week award, the first Pirate to ever earn the honor twice. McWhirter's four goals this season leads East Carolina and she is just the tenth Pirate freshman to score four goals in her rookie season. Along with McWhirter, Maeve English earned a weekly honor as she was named the AAC Goalkeeper of the Week after making a combined 12 saves against Temple and Houston. It is the first Goalkeeper of the Week award for English and the fourth of her career, which is the most by a Pirate goalkeeper. English currently ranks third in the country in goalkeeper minutes played with 1401:50. Samantha Moxie and Tori Riggs picked up goals against Temple. Moxie is right behind McWhirter with seven points on two goals and three assists this season. As a class, the East Carolina freshmen have a combined 23 points, which is the sixth most by an ECU rookie class.

Morgan Dewey set up Moxie's opener against the Owls, giving her three assists this season and nine in her Pirate career. Dewey is now tied for eighth in East Carolina history for career assists. Also moving up on the East Carolina career lists are Riggs and Kim Sanford. Sanford became the 11th Pirate player to reach 80 career games when she started against Houston and she is eighth in career starts with 76. Riggs needs two more appearances to join Sanford in the 80-matches club and currently leads all active Pirates with 29 career points on 11 goals and seven assists.

Tulsa (6-7-1, 1-4-0 AAC) has struggled over the past month, going just 2-4-0 since opening AAC play. The lone conference victory for the Golden Hurricane came when it beat Temple 4-1 on the road. Tulsa has struggle on the defensive end, allowing 1.57 goals per game which is the second-highest rate in the AAC. Raegan Beeding and Emma Malsy have done a good job of preventing that number from being higher as the pair have made a combined 64 saves in the goal, tied for the most in the conference. Isold Runnarsdottir leads the way offensively, ranking tied for fourth in the conference in goals with six so far despite missing a pair of matches. Megan Nielsen is second on the team with four goals and is the only Tulsa player with multiple game-winning goals. Nielsen was the AAC Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 4 after scoring a pair of goals in the victory at Temple.

East Carolina is 9-5-1 all-time against Tulsa and the three matchups since Hamilton arrived in 2018 have not been close. Last spring, East Carolina won 4-0 at home which followed a 3-0 home win in 2019. The Golden Hurricane took a 3-1 victory at its home stadium in 2018. The Pirates are just 3-3-0 at Hurricane Stadium and have lost in each of their last two trips there, with the last road win coming in 2014.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m., on Sunday afternoon and fans can follow the live stats here.

Players Mentioned

Morgan Dewey

Maeve English

Haley McWhirter

Samantha Moxie

Tori Riggs

Kim Sanford

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