Pirates Head To Houston For Sunday Matinee

Match 15: East Carolina (6-7-1, 1-2-1 AAC) at Houston (10-2-2, 2-0-1 AAC)
Date	Sunday, October 10
Time	1 p.m. (EDT)
Location	Houston, Texas (Carl Lewis International Complex)
Coverage	Live Stats \| Live Video
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUsoc Instagram: @ECUSoc Facebook: @ECUwsoccer

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Momentum is starting to build after three games unbeaten and the East Carolina soccer team will hope it continues as the Pirates travel to Houston for a Sunday matinee.

"Sunday will be a very tough one," said head coach Jason Hamilton. "Houston is playing well and any road game and any Sunday games are already tough enough as it is in this conference."

East Carolina (6-7-1, 1-2-1) has bounced back from a tough stretch to go three straight games without a loss, tying Cincinnati 1-1 on the road before beating Old Dominion (1-0) and Temple (2-1) at home. The Temple victory was the first time this season that the Pirates have clawed back from a deficit to win as goals from Samantha Moxie and Tori Riggs on either side of halftime erased an early 1-0 Temple lead. The win over the Owls puts East Carolina in the sixth and final AAC playoff spot with four games to go in the regular-season.

"I think we have some good momentum going from the last three games and we have to keep building off of that," Hamilton said. "We can still do a better job of putting together a more complete game from start to finish."

Moxie's goal was assisted by Morgan Dewey and it was the second straight game that Moxie and Dewey had combined to create a goal. In the win over Old Dominion, Dewey and Moxie both had assists on Brooke Burzynski's game-winning goal. Moxie now leads the team with seven points on two goals and three assists while Dewey is tied with Moxie for the team-lead with three helpers of her own. The freshmen class now has 20 combined points this season, which is eighth all-time at East Carolina. Moxie is now tied for 14th in Pirate history in single-season points by a freshman while Haley McWhirter is tied for 17th with six points. On the other end of the spectrum, Kim Sanford will become the 11th Pirate to appear in 80 games when she checks in against Houston and currently ranks eighth with 76 career starts. Riggs picked up her 29th career point after scoring her 11th career goal. She is one assist away from tying for tenth in East Carolina career assists and can join Sanford in the 80 games played club by appearing in the final four matches of the regular season. Dewey is just ahead of Riggs in career assists, with her helper on Moxie's goal giving her nine as a Pirate, ranking her tied for eighth all-time.

Houston (10-2-2, 2-0-1 AAC) was picked to finish seventh in the AAC Coaches Preseason Poll, but the Cougars currently sit in third in the league standings and were the first American team to reach 10 wins this year. Houston has been especially dominant at home, going 7-0-1 at the Carl Lewis International Complex. In league play, the Cougars opened with a 1-0 win over UCF, tied South Florida 1-1 on the road and topped SMU 1-0 at home on Thursday. The Cougar offense has been proficient, with their 31 goals ranking 20th in the country and first in the AAC. Zionah Browne is the top scorer for Houston, racking up four goals and seven assists for 15 points. Despite coming off the bench for 11 of her 13 appearances, Nadia Kamassah has scored five goals, four of which stand as game-winners. Mikaela Garcia is tenth in the NCAA and leads the AAC with seven shutouts. She also has 28 saves and a goals against average of just 0.80.

East Carolina is 12-5-1 all-time against Houston, but the two teams have been tightly contested over the past two seasons on both the field and in the league standings. Last spring, East Carolina took a 1-0 overtime win with Dewey setting up Carsen Parker for the game-winning goal. That victory helped the Pirates finish two points above the Cougars for the fourth and final AAC playoff spot. In 2019, Houston earned a 1-0 overtime win of its own which enabled the Cougars to finish one point ahead of the Pirates for that season's final playoff spot. ECU is 5-3-0 in Houston and will be looking for its first victory there since 2015, having lost in 2019 and 2017.

"The conference is very tight this year from top to bottom and as a whole, we are having a very good year," Hamilton finished. "Every point is crucial and we have to go out and be ready to compete."

Kickoff is scheduled for 12 noon at the Carl Lewis International Complex. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+ and fans can follow the live stats here.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Brooke Burzynski

Morgan Dewey

Haley McWhirter

Samantha Moxie

Carsen Parker

Tori Riggs

Kim Sanford

Footer