Pirates Welcome Owls To Johnson Stadium

Match 15: East Carolina (6-7-1, 1-2-1 AAC) at Houston (10-7-1, 0-2-1 AAC)
Date	Thursday, October 7
Time	7:05 p.m. (EDT)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Johnson Stadium)
Coverage	Live Stats \| Live Video \| ECU Matchnotes
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUsoc Instagram: @ECUSoc Facebook: @ECUwsoccer

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Coming off a shutout victory, the East Carolina soccer team will try to keep its momentum as the Pirates host Temple on Thursday night in Johnson Stadium.

"We are excited to see how our group comes out," said head coach Jason Hamilton. "This past weekend seemed to be a turning point for us. Prior to that we played some really good games, but came up on the wrong end of the results. This past weekend, we didn't play our best, but got a much-needed conference point and a win against a very good Old Dominion team."

East Carolina (5-7-1, 0-2-1 AAC) had a solid last week, earning its first conference result with a 1-1 draw at Cincinnati before taking a 1-0 home victory over Old Dominion on Sunday afternoon. That earned the Pirates some awards recognition from the conference. Haley McWhirter scored against Cincinnati, earning her the AAC Rookie of the Week honors. Morgan Dewey played the entire 110 minutes against the Bearcats and then had the assist on Brooke Burzynski's game-winning goal against Old Dominion, earning a spot on the AAC Weekly Honor Roll. Maeve English came up clutch against Cincinnati, making a pair of overtime saves to preserve the tie. She followed it with a shutout against the Monarchs to help her be named to the Honor Roll for the second time this season.

The Pirates have a few milestones on the horizon. Kim Sanford has been a mainstay in the center of the Pirate defense and is two games away from becoming just the 11th player in East Carolina history to reach 80 career games played. Should Sanford play in the five remaining regular-season matches, Sanford would tie Rachel Fuller for the East Carolina record for career games played with 83 Sanford's classmate, Tori Riggs, is at 75 games played and would reach 80 career games if she plays in the final five. McWhirter and Samantha Moxie lead the Pirates in goals and assists, respectively, with three apiece. McWhirter is the 16th Pirate rookie to score three goals and the first since Cashlin Copley in 2017. Moxie is the 20th freshman with three helpers and the first since Lana Spitler in 2013. As a class, the East Carolina rookies have a combined 18 points this season, which is 10th all-time at East Carolina, one behind the 19 from the 1995 freshmen class.

"We've prepared ourselves for what is in front of us," Hamilton said. "Our strength of schedule is the 35th best in the country and we have wins over the first-place teams in the A10, C-USA and Big South. Now it's time to take all that preparation and get on track in conference play."

Temple (3-4-3, 1-2-0 AAC) sits just above East Carolina in the AAC standings, having beat Cincinnati 3-2 in conference play while falling to Memphis (4-0) and Tulsa (4-1). The Owls have struggled on the road this season, going 1-3-0 on the road and have yet to win outside of Philadelphia, with Temple's road win coming at Saint Joseph's. Like the Pirates, the Owls have struggled to score, ranking last in the conference in goals this season. Emily Kavanaugh has been the main source of offense for Temple, scoring six goals this season, which is tied for second in the AAC. Kavanaugh was named the AAC Offensive Player of the Week seasonafter heloing Temple beat Cincinnati and has been efficient this season, scoring six times on just 15 shots. Lexy Endres leads the Owls in assists, having provided five helpers so far which is second in the league. In the goal, Kamryn Stablein has started nine of the 10 games this season and is 25th in the country in saves per game, leading all AAC goalkeepers with 6.33 stops. As a team, the Owls have struggled to beat teams when scored upon, winning just one game where their opponent found the back of the net.

"Temple is hard to play against," Hamilton added. "They will keep the ball at times and be hard to break down. We have to be patient on both sides of the ball in this game."

East Carolina holds a slight 3-2-2 lead in the all-time series, but 3-0-0 at home against the Owls. Since Hamilton took over prior to the 2018 season, the series is 1-1-1 with East Carolina winning 1-0 at home in 2018, Temple winning a 1-0 overtime game in Philadelphia in 2019 and the two teams sharing a 1-1 draw at Temple in the 2020-21 season. Riggs scored the game-winning goal in 2018 with Dewey picking up an assist while Annabelle Abbott had an assist in the 2020-21 edition.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m., on Thursday evening in Johnson Stadium and admission is free for all fans. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Zach Berly on the call and fans can follow the live stats here.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Annabelle Abbott

Brooke Burzynski

Cashlin Copley

Morgan Dewey

Maeve English

Haley McWhirter

Samantha Moxie

Tori Riggs

Kim Sanford

Footer