Pirates Open AAC Championship At SMU

Sunday, October 31

Dallas, TX

2 PM

East Carolina University

SMU

Photo by: Rob Goldberg

October 29, 2021 | Soccer

ECU Notes

Match 19: East Carolina (8-8-2, 3-3-2 AAC) at No. 14 SMU (10-3-2, 4-2-2 AAC)
Date	Sunday, October 31
Time	2 p.m. (EDT)
Location	Dallas, Texas (Washburne Track and Field Stadium)
Championship Info	AAC Championship \| Bracket
Coverage	Live Stats \| Live Video \| ECU Notes
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUsoc Instagram: @ECUSoc Facebook: @ECUwsoccer

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Coming off a thrilling win to close out the regular-season, the East Carolina soccer team will travel to SMU for the AAC Championship First Round on Sunday afternoon.

"We are excited to be heading to Dallas to take on SMU," said head coach Jason Hamilton. "They are a very good team and have had a great year. They are coming off a tough match in which they didn't play like the team they are."

Heading into Senior Day and needing a win to ensure its spot in the AAC Championship, East Carolina (8-8-2, 3-3-2 AAC) had its best performance of the season in beating No. 23 Memphis 2-1. The Pirates trailed 1-0 at the halftime break, but responded in the 69th minute when Annabelle Abbott got on the end of an Abby Sowa cross and scored. The game looked like it was heading to overtime, but the Pirates stunned the ranked Tigers when Samantha Moxie swung in a cross and Haley McWhirter headed it home in the 87th minute. The victory was the first win over a ranked opponent since Hamilton took charge prior to the 2018 season and it clinched a playoff spot for the third time in four seasons under Hamilton's watch.

"The best thing about the conference tournament is it is a new season," Hamilton said. "Nothing that happened before means anything. We had some really good moments against them the last time we played."

While all seven seniors will be happy to see their collegiate careers extended during this playoff run, it will also have an effect on the record books. Kim Sanford tied the East Carolina record on Senior Day by playing in her 83rd career match. She will hold the record on her own as soon as she appears in ECU's postseason contest and the Philadelphia, Pa., native has missed just one game in her career, which was caused due to a red card in the 2018 season opener. Along with Sanford, Tori Riggs will also finish her career in the top-five in career appearances should she play in a postseason contest. Riggs currently has appeared in 81 games in a Pirate jersey and she is tied for tenth all-time with eight career assists and is just the 17th East Carolina player with at least 30 career points, as Riggs currently has 32 on 12 goals and eight assists. Joining Riggs in the top-ten in career assists is Morgan Dewey. Dewey has nine assists in just 48 games as a Pirate, placing her eight all-time at ECU.

No. 14 SMU (10-3-2, 4-2-2) had a chance to finish as high as the No. 1 seed, but a 5-0 loss to Memphis combined with wins by South Florida and Houston on the final matchday of the season dropped the Mustangs to the fourth seed. The loss against Memphis snapped a four-match unbeaten streak for the Mustangs, but it was also the second time in five matches that the stingy SMU defense had allowed at least three goals. SMU has nine shutouts on the season and finished second in the AAC in goals allowed, with just 14 in 15 games. Tatum Sutherland led the AAC in goals against average (0.57) and save percentage (.909), while fellow goalkeeper Samantha Estrada was named the AAC Goalkeeper of the Week last week after posting back-to-back shutouts. Lindsey Whitmore (four goals, five assists) and Courtney Sebazco (four goals, three assists) are the two Mustangs with double-digit point totals this season. Sebazco leads the team with three game-winning goals.

The teams will be playing for the second time this season after SMU took a 2-0 victory in Greenville on Sept. 23, pushing SMU's record to 9-6-3 against the Pirates. The two programs memorably met in the 2018 AAC Championship First Round. SMU took a 1-0 lead in that contest, but a goal by Erin Mikalsen in the 73rd minute leveled the score. After playing a pair of overtime periods, the match was decided on penalty kicks, with ECU winning 5-3. Riggs was one of the five Pirates to bury their spot kicks that day.

East Carolina is in the AAC Championship for the fifth time, also reaching the league tournament in 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2020. The Pirates hold an all-time record of 2-4-1 in the AAC Championship, beating Houston and Memphis. ECU has reached the semifinals in both 2018 and 2020, advancing past SMU on penalty kicks in 2018 while falling to South Florida in the semifinals in both years. Riggs, Sanford, Grace Doran, Morgan Dewey, Carsen Parker, Addison Salz, Alexia Moore and Catherine Holbrook all played in both the 2018 and 2020 runs, while Annabelle Abbott, Maeve English, Brooke Burzysnki and Sydney Schnell got their first taste of playoff action last season.

"We need to make the adjustments we've put in place and come out and attack the game on Sunday," finished Hamilton. "I have a lot of confidence in this group and feel they can make a good run in the tournament if we play well."

Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m., on Sunday afternoon at Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium. Fans can watch the match on ESPN+ or follow the live stats here.